after reading a few boards and the forums a few times again, I always stumble upon the same kind of thing again. Some conversations quickly derive into blame shifting on people and for me the tone gets rougher until some people get annoyed or some party apologizes. I do wonder if such a thing is really needed. We're all playing a game, one we for the most part really enjoy and as we're people from around the world we're bound to disagree every now and then. But we should be able to accept somebody disagreeing with us, at least in my eyes. Apart of that, I see a common pattern (both on the OOC board and here).
1. Feature XYZ is proposed, asked for, etc. We derail into two groups who throw arguments onto each other, till it gets rough. The way I experienced it, there was always room to discuss things and people are bound to be more open to your point of view if you present it with a calm view and without 'aaargh' written there in the subtext.
2. Wizards vs. players. I have seen several decisions by wizards who have not been liked by the current playerbase, resulting in flaming. I have a certain issue with that. The wizards (in my eyes) do a wonderful job donating their free time to change things and try to improve this game. Therefore we should show the respect that's according to their work. If you really see that there's an issue with how a certain thing is implemented, In my experience, bringing a calm, fact filled 'mail' or bug up to the wizards usually will make them consider your thoughts on it. Most probably (also, again, in my experience) you'll get even a response back explaining you while a feature was made the way it was.
3. Some controversal point is rised ("InsertGroupHere being too powerful") and people quickly dig back into the past trying to come up with some killer argument. I do not see much trying to wear the other people's shoes in this case. Try to imagine how it feels to be a member of that group. I think it really changes perspective, to get a bigger view of the picture.
So in general, people. We're all human and we all get annoyed / enraged sometimes. But I think we are all here to have some fun and I would really dislike seeing that we all just get at each others throats, just because of some disagreement. I think we're all trying to be reasonable, polite and try to focus on facts and cut down the emotions, we'll get much further and make each others life easier. So, come on. (Sheesh, I sound like a Hippie now

As a last thing, I'd like your input on my statements, do they sound reasonable? Or do I talk rubbish?

poGlorfindel who's a bit disappointed after reading a good deal of OCC discussions and forum posts.