I hope that the people at the top will see that their attitude, responses and actions filter down through the staff system and down to the members. I hope that the staff will only respond when necessary and with calmess, patience and maturity.. making sure their response leaves a good image of not only themselves but of .org as a whole.
I think this can be accomplished by letting discussions like this occur, only reacting differently than in the past, as wayne stated (but did not show) treating others how you'd like to be treated. I think once the top start embodying the characteristics that they hope us all to have, then we will, for the most part, do the same.
For me its not about what's being worked on as far as hacks and additions to the site, is about having good leadership and fellowship among the staff and coders and members, because if you don't have that then it won't matter what you have here, no one will feel welcomed nor part of the community.
If a member makes a public attack toward a staff member maybe a better response instead of getting defensive would be, "I'm sorry you feel that way, how can I rectify the problem?" or "I'm sorry you understood it that way, I did not mean for it to come across that way, I apologize", "You're right, we could have handled that better. In the future we will try to avoid this again, what can we do now to fix the problem?"
Well said. As for public attacks, i just try to always end it with some humor along with understanding
I understand the purpose of your post, but don't ever post again. You see what i mean, i never fail! Hehe