Who are you people?
The people on this list are not only competent martial artists and instructors, but Vietnam veterans, law enforcement officers, professionals, university professors, bikers, psychologists, scientists, ex-brawlers and master level martial artists. No matter what their profession, they are a group of people with years of "live fire experience" rather than one or two bad episodes. Many of them are still in high-risk professions.
As this list is populated by people for whom delivering a lethal response is NOT an academic question, topics of conversation tend to address "next level" issues, such as legal, ethical, psychological moral issues and responsibilities arising from use of force. We know we can do it, now the problem is learning how to live with that fact.
As this list has progressed it has developed a distinct "cyber-community" atmosphere. Quite literally you will be joining an electronic small town where everyone knows each other. Our successes, our loses, our celebrations and our hardships, these are shared with other list members. There is a lot of chat and off-topic flow between members.
One of the best ways to understand the caliber and flavor of this list is to realize that the people who are swapping computer tips, birth announcements, silly stories and recipes are experts in their fields and have nothing to prove. They come here to relax and learn -- and sometimes they get silly. (You will soon learn the importance of putting liquids down before reading anything that starts with "Howdy" That is unless you like replacing keyboards)