I dunno . . . I seem to manage to get up people's noses, even here.
I try to be tactful, really I do, but it can be hard to figure out how to tell someone that what they just said clearly demonstrates a lack of experience, knowledge, analytical and/or observational skills, without offending.
In the cyber world, opinion seems to carry more weight than fact, and a lack of data can be irrelevant, if you just shout loud enough (reference to an old preacher's joke, there). Even what is actually abuse seems to be a matter of opinion - I once had someone argue with me long and loud that turning a rabbit over on its back for any reason was abusive.
At my college graduation, I remarked to someone, "I am dealing with this panicky thought - 'what am I doing graduating? I don't know
anything!'" Sadly, an awful lot of folks don't seem to have gotten to the point of "the more you know, the more you realize you
don't know," and they know just enough to be dangerous.
One useful thing about the rude ones, is that they can't resist getting nasty when challenged. When I was a kid, I used to do this to my older brother - get in his way just enough to get him angry, and when he lashed out, tattle to Mom. It's a bit juvenile, I know, but when someone gets obnoxious, I have learned not to retaliate in kind, but give them enough rope to hang themselves, then hit the report button (channeling Tweety Bird here - "She don't know me too well, do she?")
We've had lovely and warm here for a couple of days, but now it's back to winter (whose winter, I haven't figured out yet; seems unusually cold to me!) I have a feeling I'll be drinking a lot of coffee over the next few days.
There have been times when I have watched conversations that I wasn't even a participant in go downhill, and reported the offender (never you, Sour - I know your style too well to be more than amused a bit by it). I know bullying tactics when I see them. Life may not be fair, but I believe everyone here is accorded a fair chance to speak, without being belittled or bullied. It's like Parenting 101 - if a kid is misbehaving, you might condemn the behavior, but you don't condemn the kid. Someone may have just made one of the most asinine comments you have ever seen committed to print, but you aren't allowed to call them an ass for saying it. You can take issue with what was said, but you have to be civil about it. Unfortunately, an awful lot of people don't want a discussion, they don't want advice, they want validation and verification, and anything less than the equivalent of "rah, rah, you go, girl!" is perceived as "attacking" them.
