Well, I think it’s time for me to say something.
Some of you know that I’ve been online longer than some of my readers have been alive. I first went online in 1982, and I’ve been on ever since. I have what I think is a strong understanding of the nature of online communities, and I’m proud of the one we have created here (particularly thanks to the comments system, which was developed by me and totally unique to the Slope of Hope).
For those of you who would like to know some important facts about the comments system, please click this link. I especially encourage lurkers (that is, non-participants) to do so.
Through the ten+ years that Slope has been around, the community has, on the whole, proved itself to be remarkably cordial, helpful, and resilient. I confess there are a few folks that hang out in comments that I’d be nervous meeting in a public place, but overall they’re a likeable bunch. (If you’d like to get a taste of the kind of hostile, packed-with-nutjobs place a financial blog comments section can be like, just read the first couple dozen of these comments on a recent ZeroHedge post).
