My original post was trying to relate to the community here, made up of many people I'd call friends, why I don't post as much. I was trying to describe why I often leave here sad and dejected and thus don't feel like coming back for long periods of time.

As far as I can tell, this is mostly because of a few posters who continually take the news or some people's words and weave them into a very negative narrative, often with sarcastic or harsh language involved. It's that latter part that really bothers me. I don't care what a person's opinion is, but when they project it in a snide manner at others, it gets under my skin. Because of the changes in Bungie, Halo, and the internet, the fun and creativity of the past is not as abundant here now, and so I think those mean-spirited posts stand out more. They create an intimidating beachhead of insult, irritation and sadness that I have to ignore to try and find a discussion that I will get some joy, comradery, or knowledge from.

I also had a couple of paragraphs dedicated to looking at the topic situation from a different point of view - a somewhat positive view, I thought. I also added in some jokes because I didn't want to come off as sad as I felt writing it.

I wasn't trying to be passive-aggressive, but I'm trying to make up for any confusion now with this explanation. And I'm also sorry if the post was untimely - since I don't visit as much, I thought this was a discussion still in its infancy.

Was the purpose of the post worth it? I don't know, maybe it doesn't help anything. I just had felt something and I expressed it, because the board is important to me and I feel like I'm getting farther from it all the time.

Scarab, when you decided my intent for me (even when I said that it wasn't what I was going for) and responded with snide little remarks and insults with harsh language, you showed me again what I was EXACTLY trying to describe in the original post that disengages me from the forum. I don't brush things off well. I'll be bummed out the rest of the day because of this, and I feel less welcome here more than ever. My original post did the opposite of what I wanted.