I feel your pain, believe me. My husband says my existence on PerC has turned me into someone he doesn't recognize. Like you, the negative atmosphere gets to me. I don't even have to respond to post or be quoted in order to feel that. Reading is enough for me. Now don't get me wrong, i have created negative surroundings for myself also, so i'm not in denial about being confrontational at times. The thing is, this isn't the way i behave in the real world. I don't fight, i don't argue, i'm at peace with people and my environment, so what it is about this place that can turn me into a monster, IDK.
I find it really hard to actually be myself without being accused of attacking . I try and lower my interweb tone in order not to offend people, but that isn't easy either. When i can't be direct in speech ( which is how i am in the real world ) it feels very fake and phony to me. So , what do you do. Sugar coat things so you won't hurt people, or be yourself, because people will read and take things out of context, so it feels like i can't win for losing. I have to leave smiley's, i have to pretend to care about things i don't, so therefore i'm not being authentic. This is my struggle right now with ENNG, am i a 6, or am i someone who is bringing unnecessary anger from the interweb.