The forum needs more active moderation.
I understand that the site owners have made a conscious decision to leave the forum very lightly moderated, but that has clearly not been working very well for some time.
There is now a level of personal animosity between numerous posters that is unpleasant to see; much of which could have been avoided from developing if moderators had stepped into some discussions earlier on and separated the parties, so to speak.
Smileless, I agree that personal attacks and in particular, accusing other posters of “lying” and “making it up” have become common currency in the past two years I have lurked (occasional posts) the forum. It is very unfortunate as even if the poster IS embellishing a bit, the resulting pile on must surely deter other folk from posting their own personal troubles. There are a number of subforums here devoted to various types of interpersonal relationships and advice, and increasingly you would have to be awful brave to come looking for any advice.
Moreover, a lot of these accusations of posting in bad faith seem to be made without any actual foundation. It is worth remembering that even if the OP is a ‘fake’, other people with similar real problems may well be reading the thread and advice given. It is not always easy to assume good faith and extend grace to strangers on the internet, but it is always worth the effort. You never know who may be reading and how they may be impacted by a helpful piece of advice.
Hopefully some of the personal animosity will die down once the election is past, but that might well be optimistic.
