On May 26, 3:00*pm, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On May 26, 12:05*pm, RicodJour wrote:

He didn't insult you. *He insulted the people that insulted him. *I
didn't see your moniker in the thread that set this off. *If someone
calls a group of people a-holes, do you automatically think, "Hey,
he's talking about me!"?

If I open a door into a room that contains a group of people and begin
a chucking a bunch of insults, using lines like "You are morons" "You
are a bunch of know-it alls" "You are a waste of my time" would you
assume that I am insulting a specific individual/a subset of the group
or would you assume that I was addressing the group in it's entirety?

Okay, let's use your analogy. If a guy yells into a room, "Hey a-
hole!", I'm going to look at the guy, sure, and I'll be thinking,
"What's his problem?" Then I'd look over my shoulder to see who he
was talking to. I'm not going to starting screaming back at the guy.

Generally, unless I am specifically singled out, I find it pretty
funny when people get their knickers in a twist. It is laughable,
isn't it? It's not like Usenet is real life, not like the random
people you meet here are affecting your life (unless you want them to
and give them that power).

The Dawgster started this thread by opening the door and spewing at
the group. He did not include any specific monikers - but more
importantly, he didn't add any words to the effect of "You know who I
mean" or "Not all of you, but you know who you are."

See above.

Therefore, we are perfectly within our rights to assume that he meant
to insult each and every one of us and therefore have to right to
defend ourselves, should we so choose.

Defend...? Well, by all means then. Keyboards at dawn? Have you
selected your second?

I have a general rule of thumb. If someone is trying to irritate or
insult you, don't let them.

Suppose the guy is reading all of this - you don't think he'd find it
funny that all these people are getting insulted by what he said and
taking umbrage? He's pulled your strings as effectively as his were
pulled. If you want to be a puppet, feel free.

R