Thanks for writing this up, Jeffro. Love hearing others' thoughts on it :).

WPTavern has played host to several important discussions surrounding WordPress over the years and I can’t count the number of times I saw core WordPress developers shrug people and their concerns off as ‘big deal‘. It’s infuriating to be passionate about WordPress, raise a valid concern and instead of those close to the heart of WordPress taking an active stance and being part of the conversation, they insist on shrugging people and the conversation off.

As old as the Tavern is, I can only imagine how many discussions have happened here that have been motivated by a combination of passion and opinion.

Obviously those two aren't bad things - no one would say that - but how something is said as a result of those things ultimately determine if we "eat our own for lunch."

And yeah, I'll go on record as saying that I don't want to shrug off or ignore a significant, passionate conversation around WordPress nor do I want others, but I would like to see less cannibalism, if you will ;).

Anyway, I mentioned this on a WP Daily comment, too: I'm also particular about the mediums through which the conversations occur, you know?

Personally, I don't think Twitter is all that great. Others do. And that's fine. I'm a bigger fan of blog comments, emails, and longer forms of discussion. Again, that's just me.

Ultimately, I do wanna see people - myself included! - do a better job of bringing level-headedness (like Mark) to the discussion.