Jody & Robbie,  I read MMD every day religiously, though I often skip
over some of the posts on reproducing pianos, etc.  So it came as a
surprise to me to learn that Craig Brougher was thinking of leaving MMD
because of personal attacks on his professionalism.  I hate to see
Craig leave us and, worse, to see MMD become a vehicle for petty posts.

None of this particular controversy is familiar to me, though I do
remember reading something two days ago or so that seemed to me to have
a rather sarcastic or rude tone to it.

Because MMD is to a certain extent a mixture of experts, wanna-be
experts, and novices, and because many of us are zealous in defending
our opinions against contrary ones, there is bound to be heated debate.
I think that is beneficial -- I am all for healthy argument.  But there
is no reason for argument to involve personal attacks or insults, if
that _is_ what has happened lately.

The anonymity and impersonality of the Internet seems to breed the same
kind of rudeness, intolerance, and bullying that you see more and more
from motorists on the highway, who would never think of behaving the
same way out of their cars and face-to-face with people.  I have seen
it on other parts of the Internet, but on MMD?????

Please do whatever you can to keep MMD on course.  Craig may feel that
he needs to defend his reputation, but that would only extend the
problem that underlies his desire to leave.  I can't recall the saying
of Abraham Lincoln or somebody, but the idea is that "you don't need to
defend yourself to your friends, and your enemies aren't going to
believe you anyway."

I wish you success here, as I'm sure most MMD'ers do.

Matthew Caulfield