I speak for myself here but I don't think it's about not giving a differing opinion. Its about respect and politeness.

DWFII I know you are passionate about footwear so forgive me for using you in my example.

You invite a fellow to your home. He arrives and proudly pops off his shoe and hands it to you and says with a grin "this is THE BEST shoe in the world!! The quality is second to none!".
You look at the shoe and it is handsome and pull of a look of quality quite well but you can clearly see they are basically cardboard. YOU know they took about $3 to make and are not what the man said they are.

What do you say? Do you stroke his ego to avoid being rude? Do you berate the man and tell him his shoe is trash? Or do you slowly take a breath and tell him "it is a fine looking shoe but look here" you pull out the sole to show the edges of the materials. "this is not the highest quality materials and the shoe looks to be machine made." you reach for a pair of shoes you made and show him the quality of the leather and the time and expertise you have put into them.

The first response would leave the fellow uneducated and would deminish your integrity.
Let's say in response 2 and 3 the fellow gets angry calls you a **** and storm off to his car.

Response two was a loss because the man left justifiably angry.

Response three educated the man with his feeling in mind. He acted poorly and he acted with pride but he learned something. Years down the road when he picks up a $400 pair of "leather" shoes and pops out the sole to discover the poor quality and quickly puts them back deciding to save more and go for REAL quality. You can take heart in knowing that you educated him and he may educate some one else.

I have one of my favorite scriptures quotes in my signature. I have it here because I want people to apply it to the way I express my views on this forum. I might have tang but what good would I be if I had none? I would be worthless. But I also don't have to be acid that melts skin.

I am guilty of offending people on this forum. I have the demerits to prove it. But I try to speak with respect.

I have a great appreciation for many of our members because I have learned much from you all. Some of you are JockScot, Matt Newsome, Ryan Ross, Steve Ashton, nighthawk, Robert Amyot, Panache, DWFII, FatherBill and many many others. Not all of these men always speak gracefully or nicely. But they all have spoken kindly and with respect and that's why we think and speak of them highly. We forget the negative because of the positive.

Speak freely my kilted friends! But speak with kindness and respect so we can teach those with out knowledge.