To me the forums are like a local pub. Everyone comes in and shoots the bull. It's a very relaxed atmoshpere, so if course snide remarks and sarcasm can be found. You can always blow that off and talk to the people you like.

What, you need the IGNORE function? Just freakin' ignore a bad post on your own! For example, I happen to think the entire Mountain Biking forum is puerile, so I never go there.

I kind of think familiarity more than anonymity breeds the "bad" posts. Many regulars just get used to each other and comfortable here, so they use the language they would between close asociates, and not the words you would use when talking to a complete stranger.