Quote Originally Posted by salsabike View Post
keep talking--and want to keep talking to--your neighbor.
I think it's the "keep talking" that works so well here. Emphasis on "talking"--that is, not flaming. When things begin to go "slightly sideways" (love that phrase, Salsa!), we talk it over. Not to say that there are never any ruffled feathers, but things seem to get smoothed out pretty quickly.

And I agree that it's great that there's a sort of foundational layer of regular posters that seem to keep the tone friendly and relatively even (with occasional spikes for bike porn ), but all comers are welcome. I come and go myself--busy life, like everyone else's--but TE is like the home you can always come back to, to relax and refresh, for bike talk, for other kinds of talk, even for chocolate and lemon drops!