I have to say, just as an example to support the OP and not to try and beat anyone up, that I felt this specifically to a thread I started somewhat recently in that I was considering softball. I made what I thought was a completely innocent and moderately irrelevant comment regarding softball games being quicker than baseball games and what seemed like half the responses dealt with that comment (mostly in a critical way) rather than the actual questions I was asking. I started to reply with the reasons I had thrown in that little observation (which incidentally are good reasons) but decided that since the responses I got were petty and often ridiculous, why bother.
Hey, my skin's as thick as anyone and I don't hold grudges. I'm not going to give up on the forum, but suggest a model to answer anyone's question when you might have an issue with something else mentioned:
-- use a phrase like, "just as an aside, I'd recommend...", or "I know you didn't really ask this, but just for something to think about regarding..." or something similar
-- say something like, "I don't necessarily agree with ___, and if you want more information on that, I'll be happy to discuss if you want. Otherwise, I'll let it go."
Obviously, errors on rules and the like need to be corrected. Anyway, I'm sure I've been guilty of this on the other forums, so I can't really blame anyone. Its good to see a self cleansing can and does take place around here.
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