For those of you who have not experienced the Gloranthan Digest,
it is a long running web digest mainly concerned with the world of Glorantha
where people can discuss Gloranthan things in a well-balanced atmosphere,
to find out more things about Glorantha and to generally further Gloranthan
knowledge.
At least that is the theory. In practice, however, the Gloranthan Digest is a forum for intense argument, nit-picking, flame wars and statements of opinions that are set in stone. There are several people who are on the Digest who are incredibly abrasive and seem to try and put down anyone who is new to the Digest. There are others who just will not change their opinion, no matter what the counter-arguments. There are people who will nit-pick any argument, taking someone's reply and taking issue with almost every point raised. In fact, an exchange between two of these people can be quite amusing as they both go off on tangents, raising examples and counter examples, then nit-picking the counter examples with examples of their own. So, you get pages of emails quoting each other again and again and again. Some people get very emotional and even quite aggressive and nasty in their arguments. This, of course, destroys any enjoyment that anyone can get out of the Digest and is why I have twice unsubscribed from the Digest in disgust at the level of venom that was being displayed in the discussions.
It seems that the Gloranthan Digest is full of scholars who are expert in ancient history, philosophy, comparitive mythology, religious studies, humanities and almost every other subject under the sun. Or, at least, that is the impression that they give. Now, it is a fact that Glorantha does attract people who tend to know a fair bit about ancient history and such things, but
It is a shame that something that is supposed to help people understand Glorantha better is actually a vehicle for people to exercise their egos.
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