Yes, there are people who try the patience of moderators - but we don't ban them unless they break egregious rules...why not? If we did, then we'd have banned some of the members that are now some of the most prominent and helpful people on the site.
Sometimes people act like they're involved in a food fight in the cafeteria...but more often than not, the site functions like a round table discussion...if a food fight breaks out, try reading in a different room! Move on to a different room, and listen to a different discussion...the lack of an audience diffuses most arguments.
I teach my students resilience by telling them the famous sentiment that used to be spoken to Roman emperors during a triumph - "this too, shall pass". (also a phrase attributed to Persian and/or Chinese sources)
If you're wondering why we're not deleting posts where people are acting like donkeys, it's because we don't like to do that - we only remove those that violate the rules, and we don't delete posts lightly.
The IAP is quite dynamic, and it sometimes has argument (it's inevitable when you have this many personalities in one area). As in all things, the arguments will end - "this too, shall pass". We're a strong, forgiving community - and if we let a few proverbial bad apples spoil the barrel for thousands of good ones, it would be a terrible shame.
Andrew
assistant moderator