Strange, I wonder why no moderators have offered their opinion on this.
Weird, innit?
I gave my opinion in the original thread. I stand by it. I’ve seen nothing here that suggests I should change it.
I’m always afraid when I do that; I’ve had some pretty violent socks in my day. 
Well, I have had a few violent belts and shoes in my time…but what can you expect from leather? :rolleyes: 
I may have let it slide in MPSIMS but I agree with the note for a GQ thread. I took it as a back hand way of insinuating an insult. If it was poorly written enough that the intent was not clear there is no reason not to drop in a note to keep things on track. No warning was issued after all.
You mean, for some people, seventeen years is still some short amount of time? Or was that a joke?
Who said anything about a “short amount of time?”
I still picture you as a giant upper case “T”.
Colibri didn’t just issue a mod note. He called him a liar. And despite multiple people explaining the alternate interpretation, he says he still hasn’t changed his mind. He could just think it could be interpreted badly, but, no, he continues to believe that Derleth is lying about what he meant.
And I still don’t see it. Yes, the middle line, if taken by itself, could be understood as an insult. But that would be taking it out of context.
[ul]
[li]“Update my adblock software” – neutral.[/li][li]“Laugh about how stupid you’d have to be to fall for such a transparent ploy.” – could be seen as an insult[/li][li]“Calling the number isn’t ‘falling for it’. Paying the fee is ‘falling for it’.”-- Oh, wait. People who call the number, like the OP, are not included in the above insult.[/li][li]“Calling a toll-free number is actually smart, if you don’t mind getting junk calls, because it costs them money. I might well keep calling the number, just to work on my ‘stupid old man’ impersonation.” – explicitly saying that calling them is smart. Exact opposite of an insult.[/li][/ul]
I’ve seen one argument that the middle line is an insult. But then what do you do with the other two lines that say the insult interpretation is wrong?
Mmm…no, I’m still not convinced. Can you break it down phoneme by phoneme?
When mods slide their jackboots off and post as members they should have precisely the same latitude as other posters. Personally even posting as mods I enjoy a little acerbic wit. It is after all in the grand tradition of Cecil himself. (Have you seen some of his responses? Absolutely, and delightfully, wicked!)
Heh. I assumed he was the man behind the evil tea industry, whose archenemy goes by the nick lil’ cozy.
Sure. And few phrases show littler wit than “BWAHAHAHA!” I don’t think it should be against the rules, but I do think it’s a dumb thing to post.
I don’t think so. BWAHAHAHA! speaks volumes in a small space and is entirely appropriate in this instance.
bwahahaha!