Before I came on this forum I used to participate in a homebuilt discussion group. I soon found that there was a guru who had a bunch of sycophants holding tightly to his ankles. When anyone wrote anything that was not along the lines of popular orthodoxy everyone waited with baited breath for the guru's response. If he concurred, the sycophants raised their glasses to him.
But if guru Jim found fault, the sycophants jumped right in and made fun of the poor individual. I soon found this site not to my liking, as sometimes my ideas are, to say the least, somewhat controversial.Often we choose to use sentence structure that is imprecise, such as making statements as opposed to offering opinions. If you can back up a statement with unequivocal facts, please do, but when you ofter an opinion, such as "I think..." or "IMHO", it just becomes as valuable or valueless as any other opinion. Even if you can say that 1000 or 1,000,000 people agree with you, concensus is no substutute for facts. Can a bee fly?
I am starting to find that there are some contributors who are diving upon an opinion expressed by another with their own opinion expressed in a somewhat desultory or degraded manner that suggests that if you disagree with me you have your head in the wrong place. The monitors seem to do a good job of controlling this, as on at least two occasions I've had my knuckles wrapped with Sister Godiva's ruler. My remarks grew out of impatience or testiness. So again, let your responses be "Yes, Yes; No, No."; 'sorry forgot where I was - Let your response be "This is my opinion." or "Here are the facts." Agree?
But if guru Jim found fault, the sycophants jumped right in and made fun of the poor individual. I soon found this site not to my liking, as sometimes my ideas are, to say the least, somewhat controversial.Often we choose to use sentence structure that is imprecise, such as making statements as opposed to offering opinions. If you can back up a statement with unequivocal facts, please do, but when you ofter an opinion, such as "I think..." or "IMHO", it just becomes as valuable or valueless as any other opinion. Even if you can say that 1000 or 1,000,000 people agree with you, concensus is no substutute for facts. Can a bee fly?
I am starting to find that there are some contributors who are diving upon an opinion expressed by another with their own opinion expressed in a somewhat desultory or degraded manner that suggests that if you disagree with me you have your head in the wrong place. The monitors seem to do a good job of controlling this, as on at least two occasions I've had my knuckles wrapped with Sister Godiva's ruler. My remarks grew out of impatience or testiness. So again, let your responses be "Yes, Yes; No, No."; 'sorry forgot where I was - Let your response be "This is my opinion." or "Here are the facts." Agree?