This topic, at least so far, is a good illustration of why, after 14½ years and, soon, 3,003 posts, I’ll be greatly curtailing, if not stopping, my participation in the “on-topic” forums. I was contemplating doing so anyway, but this became an opportune time to explain myself. (Why 3,003? It has two types of symmetry and it’s a fun word to say. Yes, I have a strange relationship with numbers.)
I was seriously disappointed – (dismayed? disillusioned? I’m not sure of the best “dis” word here) – by the majority of the replies in this topic. It was timotb’s first post on eGullet, and if I were in his shoes, it would also be my last. All he (I assumed "he" based on the screen name) wanted to do was to introduce a food-related topic for discussion, but he immediately got jumped on.
Last I checked, eGullet was about FOOD, period; ergo, he’s still very much in the right place. Perhaps his introduction went a bit far afield, but except for gfweb and maybe Smithy, no one responded directly to the actual topic, which he detailed in his next-to-last paragraph. It had nothing to do with pills or MREs or anything of the sort.
In my opinion, all this reflects a larger issue concerning eGullet’s history and current incarnation. However, getting into specifics is probably a violation of the Guidelines, so I won’t.
