First, let me make something very clear. I am now, and always have been a supporter of free, open, productive debate. However, there is such a thing as respect and common courtesy.

Over the last week or so, I've witnessed something in this community that I had hoped I would never see. A lot of pointless bickering over semantics! There has been some productive debate mixed in here and there, and that's great, but there's been some really nasty bickering as well.

I think what is scaring me the most about all this is that people have gotten so fired up over their position that I'm reading posts about a split in XOOPS. Yeah, I know that's how XOOPS was born in the first place, and I know there's absolutely nothing I can do to stop it if that's what people want to do. But is it really necessary???

This is a great community, with great developers and contributors. Much can be achieved here through healthy discussion, open communication, and a willingness to cast aside personal feelings and just address the issues at hand. However, heated discussions with foul language mixed in and blatent disrespect for each other will only hender the growth of whatever cause you are fighting for and XOOPS as a whole.

You know, I have to wonder what all this looks like to the newcomer. If it were me, I would have read a couple of those threads and promptly gone back to opensourcecms.com to look for a more "stable" project. Since I'm not a n00b, I know that what the community is going through is just growing pains, but look at it from a n00b's perspective for a second. It doesn't look good.

So I say this... Can we please have a little respect for each other and the community as a whole. If you cannot keep it clean and respectful, move it to PM. Please!

Just my 2c