What happened to you guys?

What recent events are you talking about? There has been more than one major event since your last post in August. Maybe if you miss the passionate discussions you should proactively start new threads designed to incite debates?

I think some of the discussions got too heated and people got tired of it. I do miss Cindy.

Nice to meet you, too . I actually have noticed that when I search for an old thread (before posting my current thoughts on the subject) that a lot of the older threads got more heated and intense than current threads do. Nowadays a thread is likely to get locked before passions can take over, and before any toe-stepping can occur. From what I have seen, I am glad things have calmed down a bit, as some of the old posts were gettnig pretty malicious by the end of the threads.

Seems that if you want to speak the truth about something, there are those that don't like what you say - they want everyone to be "politically correct" so not to "offend" others.

I don't post on here too much because I've been called on things I've said because I disagree strongly on certain issues. Sad when people can't exercise their free speech rights because you might "upset" others who believe different, but its ok to criticize those that are speaking the truth.

I've hardly ever noticed anyone here insisting that anyone else be what you refer to as "politically correct". Truth and fact can quite often be two different things. I have seen, quite often, opinions being challenged, usually with other opinions. That is actually what IMO is all about.

Being "called" on something that someone disagrees with is called "debate". That too, is what IMO is all about. To think that challenging another person's opinion to debate is to be denying them free speech, indicates a complete misunderstanding of the nature of free speech. You have every right to say whatever you want, just as everyone else has every right to respond to it; and vice versa.

23 cats!

Do they all get along?

That is a funny question... What happened to us... TCS has been quiet in a way, some forums more than others...
A couple of forums, this being one of them, used to be quite passionate and you are right, haven't seen the fire in a while.
I was one of the passionate ones, and I had to take a step back in order to keep myself here... I know myself and I know I would cross the line if I stayed.
IMHO there is a very fine line in what is safe to say on IMO. Your opinion, the way you express it, can sometimes offend others and all of the sudden you can find yourself in "trouble" (for people like me, with too much passion, this is a problem...)
IMHO when rules are made and judged by humans, there is risk of falling into subjectivity... That is only human. There is also the matter that your rights stops where the other person's rights starts, especially when it comes to conflicting, argumentative ideas - in a heated discussion, this can dangerous, putting you into a position of easily crossing the line.
So, to keep myself safe in this site, which I love, I prefer to keep my distance (this is entirely my choice, my purrsonality just can't handle it - latin "hot" blood, I guess...)
Now here goes a little wood on the fire to you, exercising my freedom of speech:
I hear a lot of people saying they miss Cindy, Cindy this, Cindy that... Well... I don't... How's that for a fire?

I love this forum, but the rules and practices here are generally a lot stricter than on other forums. On my dog forum, for example, threads will get off track and debates will start, and they won't be locked as long as there's beneficial discussion (that yes, will get heated), meaning somebody can learn something from reading. Sometimes the discussions/arguments will be ended with a similar conclusion or an "agree to disagree" or there's just no use hashing it out anymore and people get tired of going round and round, so the thread ends.
There can be a lot of drama, but also a lot of learning when you can pretty much speak your mind no matter how politically incorrect it is.
Sometimes it's politics, abortion, dog training methods, debates on crating, debates on breeds, you never know, but it's enlightening.

ETA: I do have to clarify, even if there are arguments, discussions can only be beneficial and best carried out when there's respect that there are different views than yours, whether you agree or not. That's where things get itchy, as Carolina touched upon; when there's a clear "I am right" and "You are WRONG" mentality, rather than trying to find some common ground.

I think people should check themselves before posting and ask "Is this post directed to belittle the person that disagrees with me, or am I saying this calmly to state my point?" For example, I tend to get heated, and if I remember right, I have disagreed vehemently with Cinder while lurking in this forum, and I would need to check myself before replying to her on some posts.

One reason it's relatively quiet in here is that it's not an election year. There are some good topics for discussion, nuclear energy being one of them, but somehow it seems a waste of time to me personally to argue when tens of thousands have fallen victim to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the Middle East is in such turmoil, with lives lost there every day, too.

I have noticed a few sites I go to are a lot quieter from less traffic/new ppl. Don't know if its more working or what. I come here but far as medical/cat advice don;t post much, not cause I know that much but I tend to look up issues I am having and do my own research before deciding to post something that's been done so many times before me.

I have my gang and that takes up enough time(3 am and doing litter boxes) A cat house huh-that would be AWESOME for my guys but at moment I wouldn't trust my area to not vandalize it Have had some things stolen(including worthless chairs waiting to go to garbage

Caolina, I guess I am one who said they miss Cindy. I would miss you too if you were no longer here because I enjoy reading some of your posts. However I didn't always see things the way she did or the way you do. But I would miss any of the regular posters who were no longer here.
As you said about yourself and your passsion and backing off, I think that is what happened to a lot of us. We didn't want to cross the line and hurt someone's feelings and we all want to stay safe in this site.

to be honest i stay away from here for a couple of reasons

Most of the time its topics about american elections so its a different type of politics to what it is here so dont feel like i should comment on it

people just ignore what i have to say or they jump on what i say and try and force their views and opinions on me and i dont like that at all

so for me its eaiser to stay away

and actually i dont miss cindy either

I just realized that I am here for the cats. And I did not want to say anything that would prevent me from that.

I truly like all the posters and consider them friends. I would be broken hearted to loose that connection.

I really want to try to help people with their kitties if I have had an experience they are going through.

Bottom line....it's about the cats.

Very well said!!! You helped loads when we had problems with Smooch

and yeah I want to keep my mentor badge so i wont risk posting anything untoward anymore

Yeah, forums vary on strictness for good and bad. Some people can trade blows all day, and still have a beer afterward, while others find it stressful and hold grudges. One forum I administrate, we have a separate "thunderdome" section. It is completely unmoderated (with plenty of warning about it being so), and unless something posted is highly illegal, its left alone.... yup, so called thunderdome for a reason, hah!

Its important to remember that huge differences on political ideals don't necessarily mean I can't still like someone as a person.

Take my cats for example; I'm fairly conservative, but my cats are hardcore socialists. Everything I bring into the house, they immediately start marking as theirs, they eat all my food, and refuse to get jobs or clean up the house while I'm away, and just want to run around naked, be one with nature and get high on catnip. Hippie moochers! But I luv em.

I agree, I come here for the cats. That said, some debates can certainly happen about cats (indoor/outdoor, declawing, breeding, etc.)

LOL! We've never argued, so I hope I haven't made your ears burn. I just used to lurk in here a lot.

I have problems on non-cat sites with that, too.
It's dangerous for me to debate about declawing. Remember when I said that people should try to be open minded and not just think someone else is wrong and they're completely in the right? Well, I also believe declawing is wrong, period.
There's a lot of gray area, I guess.

It is so rare when you can change the opinion of anyone that opposes your own beliefs. I stop in to blow off steam sometimes.

Cindy and I were pretty much completely opposed in our views, yet I can't help but think that we both baited each other to keep expressing them. The MOAT thread was pretty funny after a while......

For those that don't remember the MOAT, there were 13 independent threads started by Cindy that started with Obama bashing that were merged into a single thread. All 13 threads had basically the same arguments. It was hundreds of posts long. And yup, I was in the middle of it.

It was big and skeery.

And the Mother Of All Threads......

I don't post as much in general anymore, and pretty much never come into IMO. Don't have time, too many cats to take care of!

I used to always take part in those heated discussions, and I do miss it, a little..For me personally though, I've just come to the conclusion that it's a major waste of time to spend an hour a day posting on IMO and trying to be logical and objective when it leads to nothing productive at all..better to spend that time on something else. Maybe if someone like Cindy came along and started massively posting things I don't agree with, I would feel the need to give my opinion on it.

I don't think most people realize what desperate shape this country is in. Federal and state deficits are exploding, and we can't grow our way out of them. I believe we only have two options available to us:

Courageous, honest, bipartisan, long term planning with shared sacrifice, or

Societal collapse

Which of these two appears most likely?

Yes, Japan was already losing ground to China economically before thousands of firms were damaged by the catastrophe. But it doesn't change that in the developed world it is the US which is still at the bottom of every measure of population well-being, from life expectancy to education.

I find I am agreement with AJ, I'm Canadian and have often been rude to by some individuals because I ventured an opinion on some US subjects not realiziing that as a neighbour of the US, what happens there can have a direct bearing on Canadians. Some of our newer members also seem to not have a clear understanding of what IMO is about and tend to think that postiing one's opinion is somehow being rude.

I have to say, I also miss Cindy and some of the old crowd of posters where we used to have lively discussions and didn't get our knickers in a knot or take our ball and go home.

The number of posts/threads may be lower than in the past but IMO the quality of the posts is much higher. Now most of the posts are thoughtful and intelligent. Quite a change from the past.

I prefer quality over quantity.

While that may be true, it is a mite more boring. It used to be lively and fun.