Isadora, I can understand your perspective, and really that of those who are locals here, such as Adrian. And I wasn't trying to be xenophobic or anything with Adrian, either.
To me, it just feels a little voyeuristic. It's like going to the psychiatrist knowing that he or she is going to go home and tell their family what they heard in session for the day, personal commentary and all
I try to be as fair as I can with my observations and sometimes it can be at best an irritation to someone locally, even if they agree with me to a large extent. No one likes having their problems discussed in public, I'm sure.
I use this forum for 3 reasons:
1) Because it can be a great resource for figuring out how to get things done here. Obviously locals can help with this if they are so inclined. Expats with experience can usually handle most everything, but sometimes the local point of view is invaluable in understanding a situation.
2) Because it is a place where I can shed some aggravation with some of the things that happen to me in the course of a day. Sometimes simply things that are so culturally different at its base, like people walking out of stores from doorways onto a crowded sidewalk without it even occurring to the one who is exiting that there is a very good probability that there are other people on the other side of the doorway into whom they are going to be crashing - to me it is bad manners, yet to people here it is considered normal and dealt with differently. Sometimes I just need to get it out. Then I'm OK.
3) Because I like to help other people and this is a way I can do it - see #1. I also try to be as factual as possible and not sugar-coat anything, at least not too much. I also try not to go to the other extreme and say everything here is bad, when obviously it isn't. However, people who are considering making a big change in their life deserve to know the bad things, even the little things, in helping to make their decisions. I've seen people on this forum, and people in person, come down here and be very disappointed with the reality. Even people that had visited here for weeks at a time over a year or something and then moved down here and get disappointed in the difference between visiting here and living here.
I don't want to offend anyone if I can help it. I'm sure I end up offending people with just about everything I write - there will always be people who don't agree with what I have to say. That's why, when I see a local mention that the complaining on here seems incessant, I feel a little bad and wonder why they would continue to subject themselves to such. Particularly because I am using this forum as a pressure release valve where I can show the source of pressure to others who may profit from it and NOT as a place to publish my manifesto against all wrongs in Argentina.
And the fact is, there are many locals on here who have been very helpful and I do appreciate them all. I can think of only one or two, over the years, that have been obnoxious and really disruptive to the flow of words - percentage-wise probably about as much as the expats on here as well that cause the same sorts of issues
