hi all it appears to me that we have increasingly turned this into a space to gripe. leading to a member wondering why anyone bothers to bring their website for review. is this the best we can do and be? we are hostile to people's shortcomings; even pointing out member's spelling mistakes. we, and i include myself, have tended to be quick to cut each other down. (and while thinking about this, i realized the tone of a recent post could have been polite and will be sending an apology off list. or should i do this on list?) what if our interest was to reach out as opposed to shoot down? is it possible to end this trend where members associated with particular organizations "lurk" on the list? can we reach out to industry players and say blog about whatever products they are bringing to the market having interviewed them? could we appreciate an idea and be understanding when its execution has hurdles? i fear for as long we are outside looking in, what we take for influence is nothing but hubris. a favorite TED talk is the Steve Jobs, 2005 Stanford Commencement Address, How to live before you die, http://goo.gl/aHefs (31MB). At the end he advices us to stay hungry, stay foolish. and that is a mantra we could do with as skunks. -- age is an issue of mind over matter. if you don't mind, it doesn't matter - mark twain