with tact (Destiny)

by Claude Errera , Thursday, July 30, 2015, 20:05 (3195 days ago) @ CyberKN

or don't respond.

^thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis^

"respond with tact or don't respond"

Everyone getting overheated, be it Cody or Mig or CyberKN or car15 or whoever, would do well to follow this advice... please.
Yes, being impolite (let alone deliberately offensive or getting in people's faces) is a little more honest sometimes, but usually it doesn't help you with people that don't already agree with you, and sometimes even people that agree with you will be driven away by it.

First off, I resent being named specifically while being grouped with some of those people.

Second, I already follow this advice. I wrote a response to Claude's post a couple of hours ago, about how it was unreasonable to expect everyone here to cater to English majors when framing their arguments, but then I promptly closed the tab without hitting submit because the guy's probably busy and doesn't actually want to argue all day, and the fact that he's kept this Forum as free and open as it is has garnered my respect.

So there.

Heh - that argument's been made before (on HBO!), and I think the people making it (including you) are missing my point. It's not about being an english major - it's about being careful not to accidently exclude swaths of the community by the words you choose. Want to make typos? Go for it. Use bad grammar? Kermit will cringe, but the rest of us will be fine. But start from a point where you're already ASSUMING that the basis for your argument is fact, rather than opinion (not the argument itself, but the UNDERLYING stuff that you're starting with), and often people who'd love to engage think "man, I'd have to spend all this time explaining how I don't buy into what he started with before I can even address the argument in the post - never mind, I'll just go play some Crucible."

I don't want to argue all day - you're right about that. But I also don't want this forum to tear itself apart because of misunderstandings or ill will generated by poorly-considered phrasing. It's worth a little extra time to ensure everyone sticks around. :)