Not seeing how that matters. “I think you’re fine, but most people think you’re an idiot” should not be considered OK posting on this MB. Your example, and Mr Beef’s original post, could just as easily be interpreted as: “You’re such a loser/idiot you don’t even realize you just called yourself one”.
There are many different ways those posts could be read, and **Mr Beef **insisting that his is the only reasonable interpretation is nonsense.
I guess it could, but like Bone’s interpretation of Beef’s original message (“We’re both losers!”), it fails the most-likely-meaning test. Do you really think posters should be held to an “any viable interpretation” standard? Do you really want your own posts to be held to that standard?
I suspect, were I behind a Rawlsian veil of ignorance, I would choose for the policy of a community of which I would be a member not to be that I could be punished if any possible interpretation of what I say could be construed as an insult. It’s surprising to me that that seems to be a minority opinion.
Please see post #158.
That was a good post.
No, that’s for making wild-assed comparisons to Barack Obama.
No, but goddamn is this frozen pizza satisfying.
I don’t follow.
U2 had a song about following. Pretty good one, too.
They’re even better if you heat them up.
:smack: D’oh! See? Always read the directions. 
That is exactly the way that I read it, and I’m surprised that more people didn’t catch that earlier.
I understand dead horse is quite tasty if tenderized by beating it sufficiently.
But here is some new information. The guy was clearly a dickbucket.
Reported.
That is the way I read it as well and it seems blatantly obvious to me. However, to other posters it seems obvious it was an insult. Maybe there is some psycho-mojo at work here where people read the same thing and ascribe completely opposite meanings to it. Is there a term for that and does it exist elsewhere?
By this logic I should be able to say, “I am not insulting you but you’re an asshole.” to another poster outside the Pit. Do my magic words work?
Complete opposite meanings? Did SenorBeef mean to compliment him by calling him a loser?
Yes, everyone understands the implied “by your own logic” in the insult. That’s not the disconnect. The disconnect is in the idea that you can skirt the rules against insulting someone by saying, “By someone else’s logic, you’re <something insulting>” It doesn’t matter whose logic you’re using when you insult someone. You’re still insulting them, and that’s not allowed.
Well, I’ll say this:
If this thread is new precedent that even implied insults that might be skirting the rules are now warnable offenses, I’m satisfied. Take it on the chin, SenorBeef, and rest easy knowing that Idle Thoughts will henceforth be evenhandedly applying this metric to all posters who been around long enough to know better.
I got away with almost exactly this some years ago. I can only assume that my sentiment was so universally shared that no one reported me. SenorBeef was not so lucky.