...Visiting your page, I am mindful of something.
6. If you think you are reading someone's words in a certain tone, and it makes you want to retaliate, please ask first what was intended before unleashing a reply you may regret later. Remember that typed words on a screen can be read in many different ways, and people may leave out punctuation in their thoughts accidentally. In many cases, punctuation helps one to figure out the tone, but it is not the case every time.
I will be honest and tell you that after the events on nanabanana's page I have been following a policy of simply ceasing to comment on threads once you post in them.
That's not my preferred method of discourse, and excludes me from many discussions that I honestly really wanted to participate in.
But I DO realize that - for whatever reason - I rub you the wrong way. There's nothing wrong with that; I know people who cause me the same reaction.
As I said in comments on Carter's page; you hereby - here's another copy for your personal use - have it in writing that if you simply ask me for clarification, rather than assuming I intend personal attacks - I reserve those for the "anarchy" threads in the robust debate group as much as I can - I will ALWAYS gladly oblige.
I disagree with a lot of people on a lot of things; finding yourself on the other side of a debate from me isn't anything unique or unusual.
But please, never assume that I am unwilling or unable to expand upon a point. I am always willing to go the extra mile to ensure that my specific intent and meaning is clear to whoever I'm talking with; that's simply common courtesy. You are always, always welcome to ask questions, request clarification, or whatever you need.
As I said; you're not gonna agree with me all the time, and that's fine. But it's a whole lot less likely to cause acrimony if we're both 100% sure what the exact stance of the other actually IS before the shouting starts.
I often find that people "feel" things without being able to articulate why they think that way. IN MY EXPERIENCE - and I stress that, because of course I'm not always right - the overwhelming majority of the time, when someone cannot actually provide a reason for their stance, it's because that stance is mistaken. Because of that, I encourage people to spell out - specifically - the exact reasoning they used to reach that point; the exact ideas that drive their thinking.
Some people find that to be offensive. Barring the aforementioned anarchy threads, I do try to avoid that, but people, I find, can take offense at anything if they try hard enough.
At any rate; you are certainly under no obligation whatsoever to give me the benefit of the doubt on anything that I say.
But if you take the chance and simply ask for clarification, I might surprise you.
At any rate, I wish you the best; and if you continue to find me enormously irritating, simply tell me so, and I will resume my Elite Master Plan of simply staying out of your way.
