Torontina's Profile

Comments are one of the reasons I come to the site and to the contest pages. The responses to the contest posts contain all sorts of useful advice, links, elaborations by the contestants, etc. I am not opposed to critical responses, either - those can be very enlightening, BUT ONLY when they are done in a courteous, mature and polite manner.

I definitely want to and hesitate to post my own submissions on this site. It's fair to say that if you open your home to a public forum, you open yourself to criticism. But consider: if you come to an open house, you are free to like or not like what you see. But there are certain social rules you are expected to abide by while you visit. This is very similar. I would find some of the comments I saw in the contests incredibly hurtful and unpleasant if I were the contestant, not because they disliked something, but because of HOW they disliked it.

I really think what AT needs is a comments moderator, stat. There is nothing in the community that a judicious rebuke and/or banning couldn't fix, when necessary.