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If the complaint is that the intensity and length of dwellar-on-dwellar strife has increased, and shows no sign of cathartically ending itself or being otherwise resolved, then what caused it? We're talking about 20 years of society changing around the Cellar, during which time the moderation philosophy hasn't significantly changed. I don't really think that anyone named in this thread is uniquely responsible, in the sense that "if only so and so were gone this problem would never again arise."
- in the Cellar's time, the internet has gone mainstream. It's becoming a larger and larger part of people's lives. Does the ever-smaller gap between "stuff on the internet" and "real life" make it easier for people to be passionate about something they read on the internet?
- in America right now we're in the middle of a bubble of pretty strong partisanship, where peoples' political views are mostly either passionate or nonexistant. Is this just how politics are now?
I dunno. But I do think that the Cellar being able to resolve this in a way that doesn't force homogeneity is important, both for the Cellar's wellbeing and as an example of what the future of communities might hold.
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