Mike, given all that you have been through, you can tolerate a bunch.... that you can't tolerate a few people (perhaps me included) on this site seems unlike a person that can take these treatments and still be left standing.

This board has over 100,000 threads of discussion on it and many times more individual posts. I think that a simple look at them will show that they are not the work of a few people but the voices of many, thousands. They don't always agree, and certainly have different levels of knowledge, and all have different experiences as they go down this path. That a group that diverse would all sit down and sing kumbaya together is optimistic. Hell, oncologists between each other, argue more than we do here. The vast majority of the posts here are supportive, and empathetic. And if you doubt that, look at the posts related to Danny Boy, or Minnie, just to pick a couple, and tell me that this board is not full of caring people.

If someone has posted something that may be technically incorrect, there are a few here, say Marcus, to a lesser extent me, that are on science or oncology programs routinely as a matter of our work. I try to state what the science states. If I have an opinion that is not supported by that, I try to say so. Bottom line is that what makes these boards unique in the world of the web, is they are carefully monitored in the open and in the background. Nothing could be worse that incorrect information being allowed to live on the boards that might allow someone to make a bad choice or worse - hurt them.

Open dialog is necessary, and sometimes there is passion associated with it. You should not misconstrue passionate debate for meanness, or something negative.

Charm says that he is going to work towards being more charming in his posts by 2017. In the meantime we will have to deal with his, for the most part, candid and useful posts as he is today. He can be quite knowledgeable and helpful to others. As for me, it is unlikely that I am going to be any more likable in the future. I am certainly an acquired taste. But these boards are open to all, but having said that we have banned people that are grossly uncivil. But they are also not a democracy. We keep them free of people who cannot be civil, we keep them free of people trying to sell something, we keep out of date ideas from prospering here, we work hard to see that the information is useful and supportive. It is not a perfect world and these boards also are not perfect.