I'll share my own thoughts.
This modest blog has kept old friends together and welcomed new ones in a warm and comfortable environment, which is completely different from our previous home, where things used to get heated due to the person who was the focal point of that blog. A troll got lost the other day, ended up here and left some pointed comments, one addressed to Mrsgunka and the other to Amy. When I started fearing that she would stay put being nasty to my readers, I wrote her a comment explaining that here we discuss nice stuff, without any room for haters, and invited her to chill out and take a mental health break. She disappeared.
I see so much ugliness around other blogs and think how we behave so differently here... Most of us go back a long way and feel as if we actually know each other. Of course some people got very close and friendships flourished, a few readers met in "real life" and became firm friends. These days it is perfectly possible to be friends on the internet as if we were in the same room. We live in the age of instant communication, where email, chat rooms, Skype and social media facilitate interactions in the blink of an eye!
There are opportunities to be nasty or nice 24 hours a day. I'm proud of this little corner of the internet, where we thrive on the respect we have for each other. I post bits and bobs that capture my imagination and sometimes the discussions become very animated, with people sharing their own experiences, photos, their joys and their sorrows. Sometimes the topic I post falls flat and people chat about other stuff. It's all fine. The important thing is to keep the communication channels open. Some topics interest some of the readers while others feel indifferent to them. The same goes for the contributions that are posted in the comments, not every topic is to every single reader's taste. I suppose it's like going to a party. I make a welcoming speech (the main post), everybody says hello to each other, then smaller groups form, diverse conversations happen, people are free to move around and strike conversations in another group. If somebody finds a particular conversation boring, there's always another, more interesting one, nearby. We don't go around shouting and being rude when we don't like a topic, we just move on. If we disagree with somebody's opinion, we say so, honestly and respectfully. We also pull each other's legs and the gentle banter keeps things lively, specially when the sports season is on...
We're a group of old friends, but there's plenty of room for new ones. The more, the merrier!
The troll couldn't cope with kindness, civil interactions and mutual respect. She declined my invitation and went puff! in cloud of her own poison. We got on with our nice party, having a jolly good time.
That's why I feel mushy... I love this blog!
