Not to get too far off track here, but there is a certain quality to the type of “tolerance” on this board that is a large part of why I’d consider the people who post here regularly “friends”. I posted a while ago about tolerance being to respect people, not ideas. I argued that tolerance isn’t “all ideas are equally valid” but that people should be respected even when they hold views with which you disagree. This doesn’t mean you accept their views or even think of their views very highly; however you don’t simply trash what they have to say out of malice or superiority.

The reason I bring this up again is that after thinking about this a little more and reading this BBS I see that this is a very “tolerant” bunch, at least toward each other. Whether we are polarized by politics or religion, I very rarely feel that people are disrespected. As an example, many here criticize Bush and his administration, but very rarely are Bush supporter’s (the ones who are posting) put down, though often their views are questioned.

As I don’t often find this type of tolerance elsewhere (most people seem not to be able to separate individuals from the ideas they hold), the fact that it exists between the members here is a large part of why I’d consider people on this BBS “friends”.