I am a regular on four boards - this one that I visit nearly every day (sometimes multiple times), one that discusses politics and current events that I visit when a new issue I'm interested in comes up, one for middle aged and older type 1 diabetics that I visit when I think about it, and one for self-help for home computer problems that I visit when I have - a problem.

The computer board is very technical in nature so it lacks any "feel" to it. I seldom see any flaming, in fact only once that I remember and that was many months ago. But, since its topics are of a technical nature, there's no reason to "hang out" on the boards, so there's no pull to visit it solely for the fun of it. There are some really witty regulars there, though.

I like the diabetes one because the vast majority of middle aged diabetics are type 2, and we get kind of lost in the shuffle, even with our healthcare providers. It's a good, educational site, but a little dry and dull sometimes. Everybody is polite and articlulate and there is absolutely no flaming, mainly because of the nature of the topics.

I like the political board to get another perspective besides mine. However, I still prefer discussing things of this nature in person, and an awful lot of the people that post are, well, idiots. Some are downright illiterate - it makes you wonder how they could manage to secure a position that pays well enough for them to even afford a computer. Because of this and the nature of the topics, flames abound. Hot flames!

This board is so different. The people that come here are all ages, genders, nationalities, education levels. So diverse, but our love of animals brings us altogether. There is no one who posts on this board who I've thought, "Man, I wish they'd go away!" From Mary who could almost be my granddaughter to the folks who are "grannies", the women and the men, the Americans and the Europeans (and the occasional Aussie or Asian), the ones with the sometimes misspelled words to the ones with perfect English, I enjoy hearing from everyone.

And, I know I've gone on too long already, but I must address Cartwheel, too:

I wish the time you had taken to post your lengthy message had instead been spent reading some of our posts. You would have known, then, that you are preaching to the choir. We occasionally get someone who posts and runs: They state their controversial opinion in one post and then are never heard from again. I hope that is not what you intend to do, because if your post is from the heart, you will fit right in here. You will see that most of us have adopted either from shelters or from right off the street. Some of us foster or have fostered in the past. Alot of us donate time, money, and/or materials to the local shelters and national rescue groups. You would find out that descriptions of the different types of shelters have been explained in these posts before. (But we understand that they all have a place - whether no-kill or not.) I am glad for your concern and hope that you stick around, and I also hope that you continue to try to convince people that shelter and rescued animals should be considered by people wanting to adopt, even if they are looking for a particular breed. It's what we've been saying all along!