Apparently, either in this thread or more likely an agglomeration of other threads I have been acting like a jerk.
I had opened up the thread labeled “Additional Straight Dope Forum Suggestion” in order to find out where our community standards lay.
Although we made progress, we never did nail down concretely what was or would be offensive.
Until the end, when Euty commented that In His Humble Opinion, I was being a jerk.
Well, I guess we know where the line lies, then. Somewhere over there -->
Therefore:
I apologize unreservedly for being a jerk, in whichever ways I was being one. I apologize for telling the truth in tone-deaf ways. I apologize for defending those who it appeared to me needed defending, regardless of whether I agreed or disagreed with their point of view.
I apologize for holding everyone to the same standard I hold myself, and I apologize for it being a singular standard.
I apologize for treating all races and genders equally, and not with kid gloves.
I apologize for being excessively fact-based on a board that I mistakenly took for being fact-based.
These are all I thought I was doing, and apparently, either I was wrong to do them, or I was hurting people needlessly doing it; both are wrong.
I resolve to be more emotional and caring; I resolve to whenever possible look towards the better aspects of people online and off. I resolve to ignore whenever possible the confrontational, the absurd, and the irrational.
I resolve to talk lots and lots about trivial things, and GQ questions that are within my field of expertise. I resolve to let others take the banner of both anti-war information and the swords of justice and honesty. I resolve to talk lots about my cat.
I resolve to make people feel better about themselves.
To anyone whom my opinions chafed, I apoligize. I was mistaken about the purpose here.
To anyone whom I treated poorly, owing to their misplaced indignation, I apologize. Your indignation was spot-on, and my opinions were jerky.
To Iampunha, I resolve to be more like my offline self, and find another outlet for those truthful yet hurtful statements that bother and annoy.
I have no wish to bother and annoy, and if, at the end of the day, that’s all that’s accomplished, then it needs to change.
And finally, I apologize for whatever snarky tone remains. One cannot change overnight, so I plead patience and tolerance.
The Deuce of Swords.