The thread was not about Galileo, it was about Conservapedia. The thread was meant to be a light-hearted laugh at the idiocy of fundamentalists. You may have wanted to discuss Galileo but that's the kind of disruptive behaviour that I'm on about. The thread wasn't about that. You were asked to stop. You didn't.
And then despite being told that was why you were monkeyed you kept coming back and posting on the topic as soon as you were unmonkeyed. Which simply resulted in you being monkeyed again.
Yes, the title of the thread was Conservapedia, and people were discussing articles found on it (totally inaccurate articles as a source of fun). My first post was a comment on the Galielo article (that someone mentioned before), in short, that I wouldn't dismiss different discription of historical event just like that. That post was completely on topic.
What followed was a series of agressive insults and my posts defending my position (and honor if you will), followed by even more agressive insults.
Post defining my position were off topic, I admitt - but so were all the posts that were insulting me.
You could have just split the thread. Instead you joined the insult wagon and banned me. Ok, banning me - all fine and dandy. It was within the forum rules for you to do so. but did anyone else who was also being off-topic (and in far less civilized manner I might add) get banned? No. Monkeyed? no. Warned? No.
you see, that's why I was mad about back then. For not allowing me do defend myself, while allowing others to spit on me (figuratively). For having double standards - since they were equally to blame for the de-railing.
No seriously, what are you trying to accomplish, Trashman? You've already been unmonkeyed, you've already had your offensive title removed, and you're still complaining.
More like explaining and brigning things into the light. Miscommunications and misunderstanding will continue if not analyzed and brought to attention. That was my goal.
You seem to have a rather defensive attitude in general, to the point where you individually break down and negate every single aspect of a criticism that someone levies against you. And therein lies the problem: by doing so, you ignore the fact that that's genuinely what people are taking away from your posts. You may genuinely not mean for some of your posts to come across as arrogant, or antagonistic, or accusatory (or alliterative)...but the fact remains that that's what we the readers see in them. Unless you're dealing with some sort of surrealistic symbolism, the primary import of the written word isn't what the author intended to convey...it's what is actually conveyed to the reader. If multiple people are genuinely seeing arrogance and sarcasm in your posting style, then arrogance and sarcasm are being conveyed, whether or not you're trying to convey them. It's at that point that you have to stop and ask yourself how you can tweak your posts so that those who read them don't get these false ideas from them.
Not every single aspect of criticims. I have my flaws and I make my mistakes. But where I see no mistake I won't be apologizing. I'll never take the blame for something I haven't done....ever...well, maybe it it served some higher purpose.
But another question is - how many people have to get the wrong idea from someones post for it to really be the problem with the post, rather then with them? You say "multiple people". How many is that? I can tell you that the vast majority..no, scratch that - overwhelming majority - sees nothing wrong with my posts.
So should I try like crazy to change the way I post, just to satisfy a few people? Would you?
Now, you assumed I haven't gone over my posts after I was banned/monkied .. I did. I did deserve one or two of those. My word choice and self-control could have been better on few occasions. But I'll be damned if I deserved all the crap that's being placed at my feet.
Another thing I've noticed about your posting habits is that, whenever someone (justifiably or not) levies criticism at you, you often immediately accuse them of having a similar flaw. No offense to you personally, but that's probably at the top of the "how to lose friends and antagonize people" list. There's an old scriptural standby that goes, "Physician, heal thyself;" what it means is that, instead of jumping up to point out the flaws in others, we must first take a good long look at ourselves to see if we aren't the ones who are flawed. Like I said above, if multiple people are accusing you of a certain flaw, it might be good to consider whether you might actually be exhibiting it, instead of trying to point it out in others. This all goes double when you do it against those in a position of power over you, such as the admins here.
I never did claim I was a master orator that makes brilliant retorts when on the defensive.
Sure, sometimes my defensive posts aren't as nicely put together as I would want, mostly cause they're typed fast in the heat of the moment. It happens when people get all flamey and throw insults. And you are right - I'm by nature a very defensive person, not offensive.
So it's not easy for me to resist defending myself when people call me names and bring my intelect/education/upbriging into question.
And while I do realise that it's not smart to criticize those in power, especially when I or the forum goers can't remove them from power, it was still the only course of action I saw as viable. Well, that or leaving the forums, but I haven't gotten tired of FS modding yet.
Anyway, the purpose of this thread has been fulfilled. I shan't bore you with my rants any longer.
