Unfortunately, this short exchange left a bad taste in my mouth and I haven't felt much like participating since. I use the word unfortunate, because I'm a civic-minded fellow who wants to build community, but I felt a bit unwelcome as a newcomer to this forum. I realized how frivolous/ridiculous the poll that I posted was, but I didn't have any idea what the character of this forum was before I posted (I have to admit that it's still not totally clear to me ). If there are guidelines for what's unacceptable, it would be good to state them somewhere (maybe they are and I just missed them!).

In any case, I'm a resident of Davis Square and until now I've met my neighbors face-to-face. This livejournal experience makes me think that might be the best way, since intentions can so easily be misconstrued online. That said, the next time I have something to share with the community at large, I intend to give it another try here, because I can see the benefits of being a part of this online community and I assume the negative experience I had was a mistake (a combination of my not understanding what kind of messages are expected here and others assuming that my intentions were bad).