I will add in that I'm all for the enforcement of the rules. I don't comment on any of the heated threads but I read them. I don't think I am the only member or non-member that skips through the mud throwing in hopes of reading something of value. I am interested in every point of view so that I can have my own informed opinion of the topic.
MS
I would agree with this. It seems like we have too much chaff and not enough wheat. I also would like to see a little more critical thinking and analysis and longer posts that require a little effort. When it comes to the Small P politics hot potato issues there are too many one liner comments and sparing matches of minimal value. Sometimes I think they are done on purpose to dilute certain debates that people are afraid of or have a vested interest in the outcome. In short if you frustrate people enough, the debate goes away.
Personally I am also not all that big on the overuse of picture/video only posts substituting for meaningful dialogue in hot potato discussions. That is not to say that there is not a place for some comic relief now and then. God knows we need it, with all the bad news and disproportionate hits our sector has endured in recent years especially with Halibut and Fraser Chinook.
We should not be afraid of debate even with the internally politically sensitive hot potato issue within our community. Quite frankly in any debate if you resort to the one liner zingers or personalize the discussion, you have probably already lost or at best overly polarized the discussion. Not a good thing for discussion between anglers who all have our own vested interests; but at the end of the day need to work together against external threats to our fish and fishery. For my part I will try to self monitor a little more and raise my level of servility.
However, if the discussion is with those external parities that are here to do damage control such as fish farm operators or quota owners, I don’t have a problem with being a little less diplomatic (especially with those who like to disguise themselves as anglers) but will try to be civil. Better to destroy their arguments and point out their self serving nature. They are relentless though aren’t they? That is to be expected as they are paid to be here (Lobbyist/PR hacks) or otherwise make money off it (employees, quota owner’s etc), so of course they are motivated.
One final thing; to those who have fled the battle field and decided not to post because of the heated Internal debate on Halibut. I would say take some time, cool down and remember your opinions and viewpoints are valuable. If you take your ball and go home, the game still continues, it just becomes one sided and the opinion of those that show up become more influential. Not much different than getting frustrated and deciding not to vote.
. This forum has very little influence on fish politics. 
