Expanding on the Ideal Board/Board That People Want It to Be/What Some People Want from a Board Theme from a few pages back because it rang all kinds of bells with me:
I think... I
think... what has been happening here in the past, and may still be happening sometimes, is that the idea of a board that someone has clashes with the "harsh" reality of everyday b77-ness.
I certainly was (am? have been?) guilty of that. After That Other Place went troppo, I wanted The New Board to do better. Nay, I wanted it to do perfectly. (Can't speak for everyone obviously, but I'm boldly assuming here that I wasn't the only one. Too... outré.
) And for that very reason, I just couldn't do all the other things that you do on a messageboard when someone behaves in a counterproductive manner. (Counterproductive from *my* POV I hasten to add.) I could have, and probably should have, tried ignoring certain comments, or certain posters altogether. Not taking things seriously. Letting things slide. Yet I found myself defending this board and finally didn't even know against what - or whom. The end of it was that I couldn't enjoy this board anymore. It was too much hard work. Everytime some nastiness broke out on here, I felt like I had personally failed, kinda, in making this place safe and shiny.
I HATE failing at stuff.
Anyway. I guess I should have tried being more patient. I should have stopped trying to make this board perfect. It isn't. It never was. It never will be either, I guess.
But where's the fun in being perfect?