I don't lose any sleep over people leaving because of fights in the political forum. If you go in there, choose to engage, and get upset enough to leave because you can't handle the opposition; well, that says more about you than the site. Personally, I just don't go into those threads because I have less than zero interest in those discussions on a sailing site.

I disagree that Twitter is faster than forum updates for live mark roundings. Maybe the notification is slower on the receiving end, but I've posted live updates from the water, and it's pretty instantaneous.

Mike