Sound of Andrew climbing into his flame retardent suit

Greetings all,

At the risk of sounding like a conservative whimp (or is that a snotnose whimp?), I would like to issue a call for peace on this board. People do have differing opionons, and there is nothing wrong with being passionate about them. However, there seems to be a slow degradation of civility on this board.

The recent increase in flame messages is alarming, and may be intimidating to newcomers. It's becoming very difficult to recommend this board to newbies who are interested in looking for a discount broker. This is especially sad considering that this is the best place to ask questions and solicit opionions in an unstable financial environment.

Sure, some might say, "If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen." But I don't think that this is the proper place to settle grudge matches.

So I'm raising the white flag, and asking for a return to civil discussion and debate.

Best wishes,
Andrew