I don't know who will be reading this post now that the thread's been moved to Chit Chat, the "Island of Misfit Threads," if you will, but I wanted to add my irrelevant opinion...
I've been on this forum for about 3 years now, and in all that time, there's never been a time where I didn't think SOMEONE was an a-hole.
Some a-holes wrote like they were trying to start a fight. Others were passive-aggressive a-holes, starting a hundred threads a day, practically screaming "Notice me, notice me!" A-holes who'd get hostile, a-holes who'd wallow in self-pity. A-holes who'd ADMIT they were being a-holes: "I like stirring up s**t, and YOU'RE an idiot for falling for it" kinda a-holes. A-holes who'd suddenly spout something completely inappropriate (misogynistic, racist, xenophobic, homophobic, pro-death-of-anyone-who-bows-to-Mecca, and so on, in a Disney forum). Plenty of a-holes in my 3+ years, possibly (but not necessarily) including people who are now complaining about all the negativity on the forum now, contributing to that very negativity without knowing it or admitting it...
And I'm sure there's been plenty of times people thought *I* was an a-hole. Of course, what do I care what they think? They're a-holes
I kept coming back, not only because I like WDW and enjoy discussing it, but because the a-holes were markedly few and far-between, especially compared to any other forum I visit. The mods - you remember, those people who aren't doing their jobs?
- do a
fantastic job, and they do it because THEY like the forum and like WDW. Quite frankly, I find the whole thread an insult, not to me, but for them. The mods, for free, try to keep this place an interesting and fun place. They're constantly treading that line between letting people express themselves freely without being blatant a-holes or threatening other forum members, and the fragile egos of others who always know a better way to run the forum yet seem leery of volunteering THEIR time. And instead of writing a PM to address your concerns, you decide to call them out in a thread. If you were in WDW and saw a guest telling a CM how to do his/her job, you'd want to smack that guest upside the head (or at least write a thread about it). IMHO, this is no different than that.
I'm not saying "If you don't like it, leave," but let's face it, just because you'd like this place to be run differently doesn't mean it has to be. I'm sure most of us deep down think "This place would be great if everyone were more like ME!" But that's boring. Either offer to be a mod (if they're even looking), start your OWN forum the way you think it ought to be run, or learn how to deal with a-holes better. In case you haven't noticed when you leave the computer...they're everywhere. I see a-holes...they're everywhere...but they don't they're a-holes...