All good things eventually come to an end

Well okay, I'm not sure if I should classify this as a good thing or not.  But yesterday I withdrew from a discussion forum in which I have been a member since it began 20-something years ago.  When it started, we were still doing email on something called Pine....which I bet 99% of people reading this will have no clue what that might be.  This was the internet and email pre-gooey interface.  However you spell that.  I'm having a bad spell day today.

Lately the group has been beset by what my son (who is 20-something) calls trolls. They have spoiled the enjoyment of the discussion for a lot of the group members, and yesterday they just got so insanely vituperative against someone I consider a friend, I pulled the plug.

I decided some time ago that I don't need that kind of negativity in my life, and I've taken steps to eliminate a lot of the more negative people and things I had been dealing with.  This group, though, I have given many, many "second chances," and I am kind of sorry to see it come to this end.  BUT....I see no valid reason they went off on my friend like they did, and they have done this same thing repeatedly over the last couple of seasons.  It's no use trying to say anything, that only opens me to attack, as well.  I don't need that kind of nastiness in my life. Especially since there is no reason for it.

I'm trying to figure out my reaction to shutting these people out of my life.  I not only signed off the list, I also deleted all the 9,000-something old posts that had accumulated in my email inbox over the past several years.  It's done, finito, fini.  Das ende. 

It's not withdrawal I am feeling.  I think it's disappointment.  Disappointment that a group of people who came together because they all purportedly love the same thing could turn so ugly.  My faith in the inherent goodness of people is a little shaken, I guess.  I'm not liking that feeling.

OTOH, I will get over this, and I will survive.  And life will get more positive, because I just deleted a large black cloud from my sky.