Manners and respect are found in abundance here. Two things sadly lacking in the Real World and on the InterWebs. I suspect a great deal of the rudeness found on the 'Net comes from people not really believing there is another live human being at the other end of that oh so fragile chain of broadband and WiFi. Because they are merely characters on a monitor, they aren't real. As a direct result, there are no real consequences if we treat them like dirt.
A long time ago there was this self important fellow who was very rude to me and quite a few others over something which could have been cleared in five minutes by a simple, "Oops! My bad! Forgot to ask you beforehand if I could use this. Won't happen again, sorry. May I use something you've done as a part of what I've done, please?" Would have said, "Yes" in about an eyeblink had he done so. If it is something I have done to mod a game and I did it all by myself, I tend to let others play with it any way they want as long as they remember to tell everyone where they got it from. Not really required. Just simple common courtesy.
Well, he decided he was going to do what he wanted and d**n the torpedoes. So he started flaming and out right lying to everyone within reach. He did this with impunity and was ruder and more disrespectful the longer the thing went on. I very patiently tracked down his IP address and from this had about an 85% solution on where he was located physically. People are not as invisible and immune on the Web as they think they are. Someone can be found as long as the person looking for them is patient and diligent enough. Takes no magic or hacker skills to do this, just sweat. Well, I sent him a private message listing the last five IP's he logged onto that forum from. I then generously offered him the opportunity to tell me what he really thought of me live and in person. After all, he was only about a day and half's drive from me. He demurred, of course. He promptly and very publicly hung a, "I'm the Victim here!" sign around his neck and played to the crowd for sympathy. No go. The larger part of his most ardent supporters found their willingness to do battle on his behalf had greatly cooled when this story was repeated to them. One thing to flame a stranger online when you think you're a Cyber Ninja and impregnable. Quite another when said stranger could be actually speaking with you in person the next day. I found the whole thing highly amusing. Sadly, this incident cost me some friendships. It has also caused some people to keep a wary eye on me sometimes, which is irritating. But since I caused them to do so, whining about it is pointless.
Bad behavior at MSFC just isn't tolerated. The Staff here are very good at keeping disagreements from getting personal. The fact everyone here is what my Dad would call "Good people" also helps. He didn't have a higher compliment to pay someone. I'd like to have more people here, but I am most unwilling to sacrifice the quality of the friends I have now for a larger quantity of them. Probably not the only person here who feels this way.
