"And wasn't it a long way down . . . ."

As Patrick himself said, this N.G. was quite a different place 6 months ago.

The posts then were mostly good-natured and helpful.  The majority shared an
interest in the topic and some restraint if not respect for other
participants.  The overall content was informative, engaging, and useful. It
was a great example of the best of what N.G.s could offer.

Now I hardly recognize it.

I've long since plonked Jute & Allison so all I see are responses to their
usual fetid sputterings.  Any technical contributions are far outweighed by
their madness and vitriol.

Ruud seems like a nice fellow, but I suffer from left brain dominance and
can't seem to follow his stream-of-consciousness ramblings or whatever it is
that he submits far too frequently.  Nor do I care to.

Apparently, Lord Valve enjoys a great reputation in the business but most of
what he offers here lately is off-topic political rantings of the
unimaginative, knee-jerk xenophobic type which have 0% to do with tubes.
He's soon to join the ranks of the invisible . . . .

I'm delighted to have MDHJWH join us. It's refreshing to have someone as
witty on board.  However, Dear, the subject matter at hand is THERMIONIC
VALVES, not seminiferous tubules . . . . .

And Patrick.  Patrick is a marvelous fellow who has been tremendously
helpful to me and others.  I don't want to seem an ingrate, but his compass
is broken lately.  Many of us have BEGGED him to rise above the crap but he
can't or won't disengage.

The dynamic is a lot like the perpetual McCarty/Morein feud in R.A.M. which
has utterly destroyed that N.G.  If you catch Morein offline he seems like a
nice fellow but is on some twisted mission to "out" McCarty and no amount of
reason, logic, etc. can deter him.  I fear that both he and Patrick are on
comparable missions which end up being 100% destructive and totally abhorred
by everyone else.  Unfortunately and ironically neither can see it himself.

How about a 48 hour moratorium on O.T. posts and insult contests?  Just for
old time's sake . . . . . ?

- Jon