For those who want more civil discussion...

Soulshiner, that's why I recommended reading other threads first. This is not the way this board is going to go. I did not stay on the fence, I stated my opinion multiple times and did my best to explain why. Giving an eye for an eye is what's been happening, and it's why this place has gotten to this point. I called everyone out on it, I offered suggestions to change it, and I asked to please not change nics (and explained why I don't want to make it a rule). The rules are staying the same that we split out only the personal insults, because no one wanted to change anything else.

akilina does add to this board, as do you and everyone else who posts here. You can either make it better by self-checking, as can they, or it can stay the same and people can keep complaining, some of them being hypocrites because they complain and then turn around and make the exact type of post that they've been complaining about. I prefer to keep improving myself.

homeagain, thank you. I'm sure the mods over at PC are getting a good laugh at my rant, thinking that soon they'll be the only game in town again. Wrong.
Again, not to toot my own horn, but definitely of those of the volunteers who help me, is that the big difference between these two sites is how this is run professionally and objectively by its staff. You can question how we operate all you want (and I prefer that to anyone getting disgusted and silently leaving), you can bring up complaints privately and publicly, and you are not ridiculed, you are not belittled, you aren't told to take a time out and "go review the TOS" like a child, your thread isn't locked, and the posts that you put effort into creating are not deleted unceremoniously (and I know how that feels, I've watched several of mine at PC disappear, some that I spent hours on), nor are you banned or singled out for unfair treatment. I've gotten PMs complaining of "selective enforcement" of the rules (and it's actually kind of ironic that it comes from "both" sides complaining about selective treatment of their side - yes, we're selectively enforcing violators regardless of each "side") - in regards to that poster. If we apply something to you, then it's applied to everyone else, and if it hasn't been it's only because we missed it - we can't catch everything and that's why there's a Report Post button.

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So here's my big picture goal. In the last year and nine months, I've been in this unique position as a sort of "bridge" between the forum and the business community. 285Bound joined 3 chambers and plans to join at least 2 more, I became actively involved in two by running their 285 Tourism Committee and volunteering at several events, became a Chamber ambassador, and attended quarterly area nonprofit meetings, among other things. I've been invited by one nonprofit group to come speak to them and teach them about how 285Bound operates, invited by someone who told me the first time I met them that they'd never join a community forum after seeing how another was run and they believed they were toxic (they are now a member here). I was asked by a local Leads group to give a presentation about networking after the man running the group of 41 of them throughout the Denver area was told to call me, and he subsequently tells me that he's heard nothing but good things about me and 285Bound since (although I take that with a grain of salt because I don't know how many people that means, nor who they are). I've been told by several business owners and nonprofit leaders over the past year that they've heard nothing but good things about this site, and what it has done for this community, and they'd only associate with this site because of its reputation.

However, all that matters not much because I don't see the participation that I'd like from that same community. It's growing, but not fast enough for my liking. I think many are still afraid/unsure of how to positively use this site and interact with the community and have been burned badly by past experiences when treated unfairly and unprofessionally. Most are just too busy and I get that.

But here's my other issue: I don't see the interaction by the members of the community with the businesses and nonprofits either. The whole point of these forums, and one of the reasons this one was started, as to be able to directly interact with local businesses and nonprofits, ask them questions, post when you've had a good customer experience so others know to patronize them too, and tell when you've had a bad customer service experience so that business has an opportunity to address it. That way, we positively select for those good businesses, help ones who haven't done so well improve, and we help keep them in business and help our local community. Throughout this whole big discussion we've been having about how to improve the Courthouse, it's come up that there isn't as much activity on the rest of the board so why bother participating in those? This above is the reason. Because unless you all post in those forums, they are echo chambers for businesses, nonprofits, and a few engaged people.

I see this huge disconnect between the individuals in the community and the businesses/nonprofits in the community. You all want something from each other, yet most don't converse with each other, or help support each other until they want something from that other group. Businesses want you to come in a patronize them, yet they don't talk with you here (although Green Mountain Guns has been doing very well with that recently), just post their deals, specials, events, and disappear again. Nonprofits are here for those in need, and they need lots of support in the meantime both monetarily and with volunteer hours, yet they don't ask for feedback, or share why what they do is important, or post support for businesses who support them in turn. We members want a variety of businesses to provide services and products so we wouldn't have to travel down the hill, we want businesses to not have to close in a bad economy, we want store fronts to be filled and booming. That doesn't happen if everyone's passive and disengaged. If there's something missing that you want, ask for it. If there's something you'd like offered up here, ask or find a way to make it happen yourself and tell everyone about it.

I'm still not sure how to make this happen more, but that's my goal. We have the opportunity to make this a true community forum, used frequently by members, businesses, and nonprofits alike to interact online so we can support each other and provide for each other offline. We can show people outside this area how much we support each other, how strong of a community this is, and what a great place this is to live and play and work. I challenge all of you to take this in, and make it part of your interactions here, and on our Facebook page and our Twitter account. I see many friends who go to restaurants up here, who use our Business Partners and others, who get help from our nonprofits, yet I see no reviews posted. You work on that part, and I'll work on the businesses and nonprofits so we can show everyone how a true community forum should run. Because until then, this site doesn't reach its true potential and its a potential whose promise keeps me going even on the worst days, a potential that no other community forum across this country has yet to reach - we can be the template from which all others follow. And I believe it is a template that needs to be copied in order to improve our democracy, our economy, and more.