The Dungeon is a different matter entirely. It is an appendage, having only a loose affiliation. It is hosted on the same server, and is visited by mostly the same people that visit the audio forums on ART. But it doesn't have the same rules, and doesn't really have any particular purpose. The Dungeon wasn't an original part of ART. It was added later because the relatively strict moderation of the "above ground" audio forums, which wouldn't allow things like venting. The Dungeon has a much looser format, allowing horseplay.

What I'd really like to see is for people to be stand up guys, responsible for their own actions. There are no rules here, so behavior here is truly self-governed. If you insult someone and then say, "well hey, this is a no-rules zone, you should have expected it" - you're just going to hurt people. There's really no good that comes from pushing people's buttons. You might win an argument, you might not. But you'll definitely lose a friend.

The good news is you can always turn around, change your tone and everyone here is probably still your friend. At least I know I am. I am always happy to see a guy shake off a resentment or whatever. We all change, go through seasons. I've been through them, and so has everyone else. Except Epstein, he's always a nice guy. And LeJeune. Thank God for the kind souls. They help me stay balanced. Or more honestly, they help me regain balance when I get off the beam.

My suggestion is to refrain from power driven argument. I've learned that from experience. I'm very bad at that, because many times I am extremely forceful, driven by absolute certainty. I've done a lot of things that were absolutely 100% right and then had some yahoo come at me with nonsense. Some of them are even well respected members of the audio community, which tends to make me even more determined. But I've found that power driven argument rarely is productive, and about the only thing that happens is hurt feelings. Seems pretty simple, but it can be hard to avoid getting worked up sometimes. Still, I think it's good to govern oneself.

Just try to be cool. Pick on your enemies, not on each other.