I second the thought. Though it is the Berkshire board, it's also a community, and sometimes one wants to discuss things with a community.

One other thought, hard as it is to follow for me:
We have a long tradition of trying to avoid ad hominem attacks. I think we should try to apply that universally, not just to posters. There are certain players on the world stage that one might not like, but let's try to follow the old maxim of the MI board: Be nice to the people, but feel free to beat their ideas to death. I will attempt to stay with "that policy is a poor one because..." rather than "that person is an idiot and his momma dresses him funny".

This would, alas, apply to ad hominem attacks which happen to be demonstrably true. Being myself short, fat, bald, jolly, and big-eared, I resemble a second-rate Buddha, but I'd rather no-one pointed it out : )

Jim