acf is a private institution mostly open to the literate public (meaning anyone who can read and understand the registration agreement), so it's not surprising that
we get all kinds. With luck most newcomers have goodness in their heart and a bicycle or three in their shed. I have observed and been involved in local cycling fora for a while now, and feel prepared to make the following observation:
Some users are mad as hatters.
...at least when operating heavy machinery such as a keyboard.
Unfortunate that such a noble profession should now be forever tarred with the same brush as the terminally crazed in yet another casualty to a little mercury poisoning, but if the phrase fits, who am I to attempt to coin a better one. If only Ambrose Bierce were still alive instead of having been picked up by aliens on his 1913 trip to Mexico and set down somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse without benefit of targets at which to aim his sardonic pen, or air.
There is good mad and bad mad. The former can be summed up as condition green, full speed ahead into the unknowable fringes of light entertainment. The latter, condition very red, is an administrative headache. The afflicted can blend into the scenery long enough to make
friends who might come in handy for later attempts to influence future enemies. When they eventually go down - given their flawed motives it's bound to happen sooner or later - they frequently take sympathizers with them, perhaps to flock together anywhere but here. How fortunate indeed that such low thundering clouds have a silver lining.
Ultimately, bad mad is just sad. It's a waste of everyone's time, which is the only true resource we all have. Although I can usually spot 'em well before they throw their final wobbly, there's often little I can do except be prepared to clean up after they've messily fallen.
I honestly don't know what brings them here, or why they aren't better prepared to face the consequences of their foolishness. It isn't as if learning tools are kept up out of reach. Perhaps, as
Mrs Dictator has opined, they have nothing better to do with their time.
