Now that the dust has settled...I want to post my opinion of what's gone on in this forum recently.

Tamar's taken quite a beating by John Petersen on the UT lately, which is unforunate. She has a lot to offer the Visual FoxPro community and despite opinions to the contrary, continues to hold her "guru" status with the best of them. Are there some areas of VFP in which John is more knowledgeable? I'm sure of it. However, are there some areas of VFP in which Tamar is more knowledgeable? I'd bet the farm on it! So has John been technically in the right in his postings in the last several weeks? It's not the point.

The point is this: hitting each other over the head with our superiority--whether genuine or perceived--is over the line. It would take skin about three feet thick to simply ignore the attacks John has leveled against Tamar...and I would *hate* to see her become gun shy about providing the kind of help she has given to the FoxPro community for so many years.

This community used to be a nice place to live but lately it's gone seriously downhill and its having a ripple effect. The Mere Mortals Framework enjoys a great little sub-community on the UT. However, some of my customers who have the *ability* to answer questions in this forum are afraid to do so because they get that "deer in the headlights" feeling when they think that they too might become a target...now *that* is a real shame.

So should we turn on the twit filters? I believe it's far better to keep your eyes wide open...and if you don't like what someone is saying (or *how* they're saying it), tell them...and do it publicly. As a community we are all responsible for what goes on here.

What about FoxPro Advisor magazine? It's still a great source of information on Visual FoxPro and I recommend it to our clients and my students--as well as FoxTalk *and* Markus and Rick's new "Code" magazine. Could FPA be better? Sure...but again, which of the trade journals couldn't be improved? I recommend to anyone who would like to see an improvement in these magazines to take the initiative and write the articles that will make them world class.

What does it take to write an article? A great idea and a lot of perspiration...and hopefully someone with Tamar's editing skills will actually make your article readable!

Regards,