[meaubry]

Great thread - thank you to all of the contributors to it.
I just want to make sure everyone knows that we (ChiefDelphi leadership) appreciate and are also concerned about this issue.
My response will focus on the lack of GP on our website by the users, as the bigger problem (FIRST in general) is for another day.
Let me begin by not re-stating every GOOD thing that has already been stated, but instead present a couple of things that we struggle with as the host.
1) How to be fair and reasonable to everyone - and I do mean everyone - that visits and wants to share ideas, thoughts, questions, etc.
We request everyone be kind, be tolerant, be helpful, don't do this and don't do that.
We have the best group of moderators, helpful regulars, and mentors that any site could ask for, including the best webmaster.
We trust (maybe too much) that people that come here (to CD) are inherently good and want to help others.
We tend to allow everyone have their own opinion (sometimes others are not going to agree with everything someone else believes) and we have been discussing way to limit discussion on topics where there is naturally going to be differences of opinion. (Religious and Politically discussion to name a couple)
The site is intended to share ideas and help others - at times it looks more like an on line message board with multiple posts between few people that just won't let go of their argument. These are the ones that usually turn ugly - perhaps we need to implement the 2 post rule to each thread. I'll have to ask Brandon if thats possible.
2) How to improve the "Welcome to the community of FIRST- we really do want to help" feeling with newer users.
Again, some of you regulars have been a extremely helpful - and unfortunately some of you have not been.
The growth rate of this website has been a difficult thing to manage (and I am not referring to he technical side, I am referring the the HUMAN relations side).
I believe that our posting "rules" cannot by themselves fix the problem - that can only be accomplished by continued support by the mentors and more importantly by the non-newbies and in the way that each of you respond.
Everyone has a list of things that annoy them about website posting - please
a) review your list
b) determine if there is something we (CD) can do to avoid those annoyances
c) send your suggestions to us (we are always looking for ways to improve the website)
d) add at the bottom of your list "I promise to be more tolerant with the people that post on CD, they may not have the same opinion as me - but that doesn't make them a bad person."

Sorry about the long post - just wanted to encourage everyone help us address this issue.
If we don't do something, we will lose the ability to be what we truly want this website to be.

Mike Aubry
ChiefDelphi