Good words Rich! FWIW, you are on my "good guy" list!
I am here for the following reasons:
1. To learn from others with similar and hopefully greater experience than myself.
2. To share the knowledge I have with others so they can some day share it with someone who needs it. Newbie questions often get old but at the same time they need to be answered and it's necessary at times to answer specifically and not just send them to the archives for old post info.
3. To enjoy the company of folks that have similar likes, which usually means they have similar principals and values as well ( a nice bonus).
4. And maybe the most important reason I am at LRH is because I realize that there are very few forums where you can get good, accurate, real world experience and info anymore.
I believe there are a couple reasons for this. First, because I think LRH is a bit unique in that you have to be a dedicated diehard to be good at this game. And in that regard it is harder to bluff your way through acting as an expert when in reality you are really just a wannabe computer hack. Secondly, because the quality of the majority of guys on this site are polite, kind, and honorable to others. Sure we argue and debate, strongly at times, but it is with respect. Try doing that on the HIDE or a number of other sites. They don't lack for knowledge but their behavior is embarrassing.
I have been on some really good forums over the years and all of them started out good with a group of die hard experts that willingly offered their knowledge for free to anyone that would listen and debate with respect. Unfortunately, as the popularity of these sites grew so did the arrogance and the number of wanna-be's touting experience they had little of. This site will be no different and is likely going through those growing pains right now. Len has a tough job ahead IMO, trying to balance growth, which will always bring more riffraff which ends up driving the true experienced experts away due to the disrespect and fraudulent online persona's that the riffraff brings. Unless this site is a complete anomaly or unless Len figures out a balanced but hard-line approach to dealing with this I fear that this site is going to have the same fate as many others I have seen. I hope not though as this is a valuable site and like you mentioned there are a ton of great guys here!
I think one of the best things we can do is refuse to engage with certain folks that we deem to be purposeful trouble makers. If everyone gave their opinion but did not engage the purposeful antagonistic comments we may actually get them to go away and find another forum. If not my guess will be that most guys will be able to figure out why certain guys are being ignored all the time.
There are definitely a couple groups of opinions that I would ban if it were me but as you said Rich, this isn't my site so I yield to Len and his discretion. He does a great job with this site!
So to the 90%, BRAVO! To the 10%, get real or get lost!
You're not convincing or fooling anyone!
Scot E.