You've not changed, maybe aged, but not changed. It is our society that has changed.
Hunters are a cross-section of society, so when our society becomes polarized, hyper-partisan, negative, looking for any chance to criticize, it will reflect in all of our communications. When our issues of public lands, conservation, access, etc. get pulled into political arenas where they are now the purview of Congress and State Legislatures, the topics themselves become more political. Both of those dynamics have increased rapidly over the last ten years.
You're not thin-skinned. When I hear these comments from someone as mild and tenured as you, I take note. I wish I had answers. I do what I can to keep the chiseling and grinding to a lower level than we see in other platforms. But, no matter how hard I try, I wake up each morning, read some of what has been posted, only to ask myself some of the same questions you are asking.
I will admit that in the last two years I've almost shut this forum down on many occasions. This forum is to serve a useful purpose to fulfill our WHY - "Promote self-guided public land hunting and create advocates for that cause."
It is a struggle to moderate and try keep conversation constructive, knowing sometimes that progress requires some heat and friction. If I'm on the road for any length of time, when I get home Mrs. Fin has folders of posts for me to look at. By the time I can get to them, many of the threads have derailed so far that I have no choice but to close them. Hardly a benefit to the WHY for which this forum is to help fulfill.
Too often, the topics presented, or the way topics get derailed by those who first filter every post through their personal political lens, have no benefit to this WHY. I've come close to a serious house cleaning of those who only chime in on the political threads. Or, those who take even the most mundane topic and make it political. There are a handful here who when I go back and review their posts there is not a single hunting-related post in their last 500 posts. What the hell benefit is that to this forum?
People get enough of the grinding hacking crap on their other social media channels. I would give anything to be able to cleanse it from here. So long as folks are conditioned to interact in such corrosive and hyper-partisan manners elsewhere, the only solution I've come to that would put an end to it would be to close the forum.
About the time I get ready to fold the tent, along comes some good discussions that are helpful to advocacy on public lands and conservation. When I think the forum has lost its value, someone posts an epic hunting story that reminds me of why this forum is worth having.
Thanks for expressing what you have. I wish I had answers. I can tell you I try like hell and it takes a ton of my time. To what end, I sometimes have to ask myself.
