I have a friend with Asperger's. He once described to me one of the problems he encounters when interacting with other people. He does not naturally pick up subtle social signals. He might be suggesting that someone do something they are not keen on doing, and does not recognise their repeated excuses as polite refusals. He sees them as problems that need to be solved and will keep throwing out solutions to enable the person to do the thing they don't want to do. This goes on until said person is blunt and direct. The problem is that by that time they are angry, and not only are they direct, but also rude.
My friend is very knowledgeable, friendly and polite. He does not try to annoy people and does not like it when they get angry and rude. He would much prefer that people be clear and direct from the outset, but in our society being direct is considered impolite and we rely upon people picking up much more subtle signals. I think that we have a similar problem on this forum. Subtle signals do not translate well to written text, especially not across cultures.
So, being direct, it is not "trans Altlanters" that people do not like. There are a lot of members from across the Pond and they largely blend seamlessly with those members from the UK, Europe and elsewhere. I myself originate from across the Pond and much of my view of the outdoors is colored by time spent there and the writings of North American authors. Despite this, I find myself sharing some of the current frustration and annoyance that has arisen almost exclusively from the posting of Robson Valley from BC and Janne from GC. Both are knowledgeable, experienced, and generous both with sharing their experience and directly in offers they have made to the members of this forum. They are also the most visible culprits for thread hijacking, derailing and monopolisation on the forum. That they come from a different culture that sometimes jars with that in Britain just makes this more noticeable.
I don't like to think of it as anyone's fault, it isn't something that is done intentionally, but as with my friend and his Asperger's, it does not matter if you think you are being helpful if you are actually irritating those around you. If you don't notice the hints, someone is going to end up saying something rude. We have seen this happen several times on the open forum, and there have been quite a lot of complaints made to the moderators in private.
I don't want to see any more members leave in a huff over this. I would like to believe that people can exercise self control for the good of the community and to find ways to get along. If people cannot self-moderate, as Wayne describes, we may have to look at much more active staff moderation, and no one wants that.
