[MissInformation]

I lost sleep thinking about this thread last night, and several times I almost got up to post again, decided not to because I knew I would then spend the rest of the night thinking about what I posted. But I did want to add a few more comments.

I'm glad some of you clarified your good opinions of Chief Delphi, because this site is an all around amazing site and Brandon and his crew deserve the respect of everyone who uses it. I cringe every time I read another person posting "CD's gone downhill" type posts because it can only be taken as an insult to the people who put so much time and effort into running this site. The site has changed just as the people who post here change... it's not good, it's not bad, it just is.

I post mainly on Chit Chat (and this does not mean I do not do hard work) if I feel my opinion matters to a thread outside of Chit Chat, I post, if I feel it doesn't matter, I stay quiet. If Chief Delphi decided the purpose of the forum was for technical discussion only, then I would support that 100% because it is their forum. I would be sad of course, because I've grown to love the community here and I think that there is a part of this community that is partially formed by information revealed, and banter done in Chit Chat threads. No, I wouldn't stand up in the middle of a meeting and ask everyone if they prefer Bush or Kerry. But in the ten minutes before a meeting, during lunch times on 8 hour build days, and during the waiting around for a ride time after a meeting, I love finding out about the students lives. I want to know what their favorite band is or if they've read a good book... I want to hear what crazy thing happened to them at school that day. That's chit chat, and I personally think it builds a better team.

I would hate to see the Chit Chat forum hosted on another site with a more relaxed code of conduct. I've belonged to many message boards, most of them with this more relaxed code of conduct, and the fighting that goes on is enough to make you pull your hair out. Moderators are supposed to moderate, and this means warning people about behavior, deleting inappropriate threads... reminding people that the thread they just started has been started five times before... (and I must add that Brandon and his professional crew of moderators do a darn good job of this). These flame wars don't always happen in the Chit Chat section either, wasn't there some big fights over last year's game rules and on collaboration? Snarls and tangles are always going to happen, especially with so many people from so many different backgrounds and especially when all conversations are in writing and open for interpretation. It happens on all forums, moderated or not.

Well, I hope you don't mind the opinion of a habitual chit-chatter because there it is!

Heidi