A few of us have made a conscious decision and effort to focus on the positive more than the negative. I personally think it is a good idea to stay more positive, so I followed suit. Conversations with a couple guys convinced me this was the way to go (for me, anyway).
Being light hearted and trying to do/say more good stuff has made me feel better. If it's grade school, that's cool, I liked that more than grad school anyway. I think it's easier to have a true since of community when all feel welcome. The forum (at least our section) has had a tendency to focus on behaviors that aren't good and need improving, but that are in the minority and not focus on the good stuff. I think the news does that too. I don't watch the news for that reason. Several of us are just trying to focus on good stuff more, to balance stuff out. Maybe it's off base or a bad idea, but I am sticking with it for as long as possible.

If you read through the EK forum, you will notice every single post I made on there was positive (one exception only), as are most by everyone on there.
I hear what you are saying Whitey, I just wanted you to know there is a larger purpose to what might appear to be a joke.
Several of us are actually taking this "switching gears" quite seriously.