Try and employ more empathy for others. Even those you disagree with.
Also, when someone in the community speaks up against a troll of some sort (usually a sexist or racist one), show that person support and speak out against those things too. Show that they are not acceptable at all.
We can probably all do better to remember that since this is a digital community and not a face to face one, we can often miss the social cues we normally rely on to share jokes and the like. Try to be more explicit when snarking or joking, if it can be misconstrued as something it’s not.
That’s mean, man. I don’t want everyone to cut me.
Also, I know many of these observations will necessarily be self-evident and things that shouldn’t need to be repeated since they’re so damned obvious, but as much as I possibly can, unless it’s an endless thread like Questions or similar (that is, if it’s a thread borne from a single post rather than an ongoing, rambling discussion), I make every effort to read the whole damned thing before posting.
Also, I haven’t yet tired of giving the benefit of the doubt. But I understand why that isn’t always possible.
I give myself very good advice but I seldom follow it. Here are some general rules I try to stick to:
• Avoid unnecessary, obscure, or ridiculous literary allusions, paraphrases, or vague references.
• Never a borrower be without giving due credit, but lend freely for imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
• Be colloquial but never vulgar except in those cases where extreme fucking emphasis is needed.
• Add to the conversation. If all you’re doing is paraphrasing what’s been said a like will suffice.
• Be generous with likes but do not give them without reading carefully and thoughtfully first. Assume the ones you give mean as much as the ones you receive.
• This, above all else: to thine own comments be true. Never edit except to add or clarify. And it follows as the night does the day thou canst not be false to any mutant.