Ben - well said. There are some exceptions, but overall the lens line/camera line FB attitude is pretty limited here.
Almost everyone keeps a modest head on their shoulders and spats are moderated (and die off) quickly. While it WILL sadly get worse here as word spreads, lets hope we can avoid a lot of what afflicts so many other photo sites.
Sadly FBism is increasing fast over at FM - even within the alternate glass forum which you would have thought would have been be the last bastion of objectivity. The sad reality of a site becoming too popular.
Get enough humans together in one spot with an excuse to form a clique be it Canon, Nikon, Leica, Zeiss, OM (or whatever else they spend their money on) and away we go...
The whole FB BS isn't just annoying, it also severely degrades the value of forums to people looking for information and assistance -- especially prior to making what could be a big $$ purchase. For a lot folks, the 'net (and the folks they meet over it) are their primary information source before laying down the old Visa.
People forget that 'rent a copy...' or 'try one at your local store...' isn't an option for a lot of folks. I live 40 minutes from our provincial capital. The highest-end camera I can test (from a store) within a days drive? Nikon D300. Highest-end lenses? Nikon 14-24 or 24-70G. To rent gear? An 18 hr drive - or two days rental + insurance wasted on shipping back and forth from Toronto.
The 'experts' at the local camera shop? When I visit, not only do they ask ME questions about what gear THEY should buy, guess who they refer customer questions to about anything above basic SLRs and lenses (poor SOBs
)? Would be funny if it wasn't so #$% sad.
The whole myopic FB BS also makes people hesitate in posting - because when they do, their odds of getting a POLITE: a) unbiased answer to a product-specific question or issue or b) a decent cross-sampling of opinion on a product is decreasing so fast in most places it isn't even funny.
Nothing degrades someone's manners nor inflates their ego and 'expertise' like the buffer of the internet and a nom d'-guerre. Lets hope we stay above it for as long as possible.