This response didn't really help set the positive tone you were, perhaps, searching for the first time around.
[quote author=DoubleMeatWhopper link=board=meetgreet;num=1058127846;start=0#1 date=07/13/03 at 13:38:30]Geez, how many times has this one been answered here? :
[/quote]
And re-check your prose before you write it...
[quote author=DoubleMeatWhopper link=board=meetgreet;num=1058127846;start=0#9 date=07/14/03 at 17:54:03]My response
was intended as a flame, Dag. Trust me, you'll know a flame from me when you see one![/quote]
But, come on, let's not be dense about how people react to remarks. You say yourself that you don't see how someone else could read your remarks as incendiary, but by the appearances of things, your remarks are
hardly inviting, encouraging, or supportive.
If I say, "You know, you could've just quoted the average as 5.2 to 5.9 and left it at that," you'll respond asking why on earth he didn't use Search to figure out the answer for himself. We could go back and forth on that point for a while.
But in any case, your response
comes off as brash, almost abrupt, kind of rude. The rolling-eyes were unnecessary; you're right about people using Search, but it would have been easier to lay that out the first time instead of letting someone else react, and then adding in your intentions. Can't you just sum all that up from the get-go?
You may question why people have that response, but then again, you said it in the first place so of course it's difficult for people to gauge your own personal intentions. All we have are the words before us, not a glimpse at what you're thinking while you write them.
That's why
sensitivity is so damn important. I don't expect you to check every single word with dread -- hell, I couldn't hold up to the standard myself. But you know, it's not all that hard to think of
better ways to phrase things so that your point comes across without rousing up negative emotions.