I’m pretty sure there were both a thumbs up and thumbs down option on the previous iteration of the forum, and the users essentially chose to get rid of the thumbs down function.
I don’t see that it would really help… I think the people who are starting big spats with personal insults would not settle for just clicking a button. They have to get their jabs in too.
I don’t know what a railroad ban is, but we don’t ban users for having a minority opinion, regardless of how much other users complain, as long as they are generally following the rules and don’t seem to be being a jerk for kicks.
Thanks for the clarification.
Oh I didn’t know that. Lol well disregard this thread then! The vibe here is interesting.
Is that a “interesting” or “interesting” there is a difference 
The joy of the written language with no way of gauging tone.
Argh! Lol 
. Well I assume the best of everyone so maybe there is my downfall.
(Just kidding, OP! Couldn’t resist.)
For whatever it is worth … as best I can tell, COTH is one of the oldest still-living forums on the internet. I believe it started in 1998 or 99. Of course a lot of things have changed over the years (decades), but of course that longevity is part of the forum. That may be part of the context for the current vibe not being like reddit or some other social media outlets.
Oh I think it’s wonderful! I’m just hesitant to post when I have a not popular opinion. I
Me chuckling. In my experience horse people are notoriously outspoken and somewhat impervious to the disapproval of others. There are as many opinions as there are posters. Especially on COTH.
There is no ‘popular opinion’ here anyway. Just wait a few posts and you’ll see contradictions start coming in. You can start them or not, but they are coming. 
Eh yeah, I’m just not used to such whiney things. I’ll chalk it up to a culture difference.
If you don’t like the tone or content of a given thread you can just ignore it. If you don’t like the tone of most threads then leave the group? There is a lot of diversity here and most people do not post in all threads. There are a lot of people in Current Events who are no longer actively riding, but the hunter jumper and dressage and horse care forums get a lot of practical conversations about training and nutrition and colic and etc. Pop into the threads that interest you and ignore the others. No one is in all of them.
I think I joined COTH around 2008. In my opinion, the tone has changed for the worse over the years. Not sure how to fix it, unless there was more, but sensitive, moderation. There seems to be a bit of a mob mentality on some threads (horse care threads, btw, I don’t read the current events ones).
I have successfully boarded retired horses for many years, but I am hesitant to express my views or I get accused of keeping horses alive for too long, or being horrible for setting parameters as to what’s acceptable or not on my farm. We can all learn from different perspectives but on some threads, no one wants to hear mine 
. For instance although many COTH members are very knowledgeable, my experience is that most of my boarders are not. Therefore a BO making decisions can be a good thing, and what some – not all – boarders actually want.
IME the tone on online forums has changed for the worse over the years. Back in the old days when everyone was pretty anonymous, people got more and more comfortable being the jerks they COULD be because nobody knew who they were. It’s not just COTH. And that mentality just continued even when people started using their real names on places like FB.
Social Media in general is just full of jerks and troublemakes and trolls, and since there are just so many more now than 2008 (or 1999 when I joined COTH!) they’re just more visible.
If I’m not mistaken, this forum did have the thumbs up/down voting after one upgrade, and the membership loudly requested that it be removed. So they had the developers press some buttons and leave us with only the heart/up-vote option.
We could say, civility in general has declined, in most areas of our lives.
Probably could write many books about how and why.
Is the way today’s world seems to run.
People’s filters that permitted many to get along smoothly now leaking. 
Agree, civility has declined but you can find it on other forums. The two I read are extremely civil, and participating is a pleasure. One is big and one is small (college confidential and the d3 soccer boards).
That’s because some areas of the forum (CE) are all but an echo chamber. If you post there, expect to get piled on. It’s fine, it’s just some people are not comfortable with having their views challenged in any way, shape, or form.
Nor can it be conceptualized that if you don’t subscribe to a particular way of thinking, that you don’t necessarily belong to the “opposing” side.
Nature of that particular beast. Endure it, or leave it.
So strange how we all remember things so differently. I am not saying anyone is wrong here, I am simply saying that we each have our own way of remembering.
COTH has always been harsh, in my opinion. When I joined here it was with much trepidation.
I was already on another horse BB that everyone had to be nice to everyone else. You could not tell someone they were wrong even if what they were doing was a real safety concern. People asking for a conformation analysis would get upset if you pointed out a flaw and that would get removed and the person who posted it would get their hand slapped.
I joined here in the days when we had very active farriers and other professionals and there was some serious disagreements about all kinds of stuff, especially in the horse care section.
I do not remember COTH ever being all nice and butterflies. It has always been a place where people are allowed to discuss, even when they do not agree.
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