1. I hadn't noticed until it was mentioned, but one reasons I've stuck around TE is because people use full sentences, actual words, and punctuation. I'm a fan of all of those things.

2. The reason I originally came to TE IS because it is a women-specific forum. I swore off bike forums after experience after experience of rude people. When reading posts on most forums, it becomes clear that if you're not an expert, you're not welcome. The last straw for me was when I posted asking for advice on potentially building/buying a fixie, and got told "you don't mean a fixie, you mean single speed." (I did mean a fixie; if I hadn't, I wouldn't have said it). The level of rudeness/pretentiousness in mixed fourums astounded and saddened me, so I decided I needed to stop spending time reading them. Then one day an internet search (for I don't even remember what), and a result from this forum came up. I read it, found it polite, and began to browse other threads, almost all of which featured people being polite, even when they disagreed. Until I have evidence otherwise, I attribute this to the mostly women aspect of the forum, and that's why I stick around.