Janet Bledsoe wrote:
I wouldn't call it snippy. It is more like -- they are disrespectful.


Respect is earned. Asking others to do your homework doesn't earn you
any respect.

In other words, if you're coming here asking very basic questions that
can be answered with a simple Google search, you're asking people to do
your homework. That's different from asking difficult questions, or
asking questions that put the answers found into context. Sometimes the
line between the two is pretty wide and gray, but there are plenty of
examples of people asking others to do their homework. The folks asking
those questions haven't earned any respect, and will likely get snippy
answers.

Also, when you get beyond the basics, and into the areas where people
disagree, you're going to see disagreements. People who repeat old wives
tales as if they're scientific evidence have earned no respect, and are
likely to get snippy responses.

Once you weed out those situations, I'm sure you'll still find some
disrespectful posts here. That's human nature. Does it rise to the level
that makes "mean spirited" an accurate description of this group? No, it
doesn't. At least not to people who get out of their gardens and live in
the real world on a regular basis.

On the other hand, to someone who has retreated into their garden to
escape the rest of the world and the way it isn't always touchy-feely,
warm-puppy nice may find the real people in who frequent this group to
be far too course, snippy or disrespectful. And for them, there are
plenty of web forums that attempt to sanitize human relations to a level
that's acceptable to them. Of course if you go that route, some very
good discussions will be lost because people are afraid to disagree with
someone else, and have the moderator decide that they no longer can
continue to be a member of the forum.

To each his own. I'll take this snippy group with all it's unmitigated
knowledge over a touchy-feely web forum any day.

--
Warren H.

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