Ok here is my .02 worth, but I can see this thread getting out of hand.

"I tend to give MORE careful consideration of what I communicate than I would if speaking face-to-face with someone and attempt to be as civil as possible."

This is pretty much what I follow for any online communications (work or otherwise).

A little history of me for those who might be interested.

I've been "online" in some form since around 1983. Ran a two node BBS using Fidonet and echomail from about 1985-1993, did a ton of usenet, archie, veronica, gopher on the Internet back in the early days. Have been moderators for many forums in the past....a lot more difficult than one thinks.

Here is a link to some history for fidonet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FidoNet

Learned it is best to just "walk away" from flame wars, not worth it.

And, one last thing, if you think "big brother" or others watching activities online is a new thing you are naive...

Maybe back on topic: Bikeforums is an excellent place for online sharing of information about cycling and I enjoy the forums.