q.e.d.?
Personally, I always thought newsgroups and forums to be a comparatively rough place. Just like mailing-lists. One person trolling around usually is enough to get things pretty out of balance and ugly. And I’m pretty sure it mostly has to do with feeling anonymous. It’s a matter of perceived freedom with lack of understood responsibility.
These forums here were an amazing example that something different is possible and I still think they are much better than most other places even though the wave of new users has had its effect. I think it’s kind of rare to find an “Internet place” of which you’d say it’s “warm and friendly” but that certainly was true for the Unity forums (and I think it’s still there in many conversations here - and I prefer to not focus too much on the others).
In general, I see two things happening at the same time right now (on a global scale - IMHO micro-systems are just representing macro-systems and the other way round):
a) people are going crazy because the pressure increases and they’re just incapable of holding that pressure and snap … that’s the ugly face of these times and it can be very extreme (and I’m sure this will still get much worse than it already is - a certain momentum has built into that direction and that still is increasing)
b) More and more people are waking up to alternative ways of being and acting - they realize what’s going on and simply step out of a) as much as possible. I think the extended family member of Dele illustrates that very nicely. Also, the success of Avatar illustrates that very nicely (people just wouldn’t go this crazy with that movie if it didn’t touch something in their hearts - even though not everyone may be fully aware of it and some might really just see the cool effects 
). If you look around with open eyes, you’ll find plenty of examples of people and whole communities that are looking for and finding alternatives.
The good news in my point of view is that in the end, a) will fade and b) will remain. It’s not certain but likely enough to do one’s best to make it happen that way and not the other. It’s just a matter of taking care one doesn’t get too involved in a)
Being aware of it is fully sufficient: You can jump off that train and watch it but you can’t stop it. If you try to stop it, it’ll just run you over - what a waste! So it’s best to know where that train runs and move away from it, keeping an eye on it but focussing on what works.
There’s one very interesting aspect about evolution that most people are not aware of: Many people think it is competetive - and from a certain perspective it does look like that. However, the really fundamental steps in evolution happened not through competition but through cooperation: Atoms getting together to form molecules. Molecules getting together to form cells. Cells getting together to form organisms. Organisms getting together to form communities (packs, herds, tribes, whatever).
So now the question is whether these communities of humans that currently exist and rule this planet will be stupid enough to just to destroy each other (and everything else that’s living) - or whether they’re ready to take the next step in evolution and realize that actually this whole planet (including its inhabitants) is just one big “being”.
Unity FTW!!! 8)
). <replace:“evil time itself” → “Our great beloved friend time”>
