[As of this post, this last post preceding is the lengthy one by ARTHUR]
I came back here to see what else people had said, and to try one last time to explain myself.
It looks like ARTHUR has done both very well for me.
Arthur… You hit the nail on the head, again. This isn’t the first time you’ve so effectively put into words something I was so desperately trying to say. Most of what you said up there was exactly what I wanted to say, but was afraid to for fear of attack, or fear of misunderstanding, or forgot to, or couldn’t quite get out. A lot of what you just said has run through my head today, but didn’t make it to the keyboard.
To those of you reading this:
There’s only one thing I want to make very clear, and that I think maight still be misunderstood at this point, even though Arthur and I [And a few others in here, thank you to you] have addressed it.
I'm not going through the old threads looking for gossip and 'juicy references to fistfights'. I read this board A LOT. And when I run out of new threads to explore, I go to the old ones. You should see the gems hiding back there... I've read pages upon pages of them, mostly in General Questions, occasionally, (when I muster up the courage) Great Debates, and recently, In My Humble Opinion and MPSIMS. There are all kinds of threads back there; some of them good, some of them useless, some of them vulgar. Usually, I don't have much to contribute; there are enough posters in manhattan's 'marketplace of ideas' that the answers have been found, or the problem solved. Sometimes, I have some useful input (usually the thread has a good subject and a low post count), and so I post to it. This has gotten me compliments, questions, insults and even a pit thread (linked above). Sometimes, though (and Arthur and Nacho4Sara seem to be about the only ones who picked up on this), I find allusions to something that I can't figure out. So, I figure, why not ask the people who put it there? I've done this several times, including [An intro of myself and a request for 411 on S.D.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=22232) by Lazerus, and a number of others.
This time I found something that might have been a hack into the SDMB, a banishment, an HTML code error story, or something else entirely. So, I asked: 'Hey! Anybody remember this? What is it?' And look what I got.
It could have been worse. TVeblen only called me a jerk. I’ve been called a f**kup for less by others (see the pit thread). The problem is, TVeblen, as moderator, has the power to erase my board identity. (I think. Maybe he’s only allowed to suggest it to the staff. Whatever.)
As I discovered in my first thread, it’s very easy to be wildly misunderstood in here (just like the real world, I guess). If I use metaphors, I’m doomed. If I just come out and ask it, I’m doomed. Well… I don’t know what to do.
Wow, Arthur. Thanks a bundle. Even people with a rifle need an ally, sometimes.
And to the rest of you:
If you agreed with me, Thanks.
If you disagreed with me, Thanks. You may be right.
If you misunderstood me, You’re forgiven. Maybe I didn’t make myself clear, or maybe this I struck close to your heart without realizing it.
If you just came here to trash me… Well, Nuts to you. I gained resistance to THAT as a child.
To sum up: No malice, no grudges from me (before, or after)
THERE IS NO OFFENCE WHERE NONE IS TAKEN.
