Deb:
You're correct about two things; (1) Crave can well look after himself, and (2) I'll close the subject.
Crave:
I don't think you're an ass, either. And you should've interpreted "rip you to pieces" a bit less literally. Compared to your intrepretation of that, every other reaction--overreaction--I take in deeper context.
Really, I very much enjoy engaging my side of the various topics and believe I comport myself admirably.
Of course, that may make me an ass in some's eyes. I'll risk it.
Nothing I have typed in any thread has been intended by me to be a personal attack on you. (Opening and then closing again the offending subject: I did not scroll back through your posts to verify your expressed preference; just thought it would be prudent to cover both bases. Now, if I had added 'goat' after boyfriend/girlfriend, well, then I would be an ass and I would deserve being ripped.)
Deb and Craven:
I find that it helps me to avoid oversubscribing meaning to a person's electronic words if I place my hand over their avatar and re-read them, avoiding bringing my bias about the poster into the analysis. Sometimes I even imagine they are written by someone I 'like'; to see if indeed my opinion about the poster is questioned. Early on in the "temporary" thread, I failed to exercise this technique as effectively as I am capable of , accepting that one of my favorite people in here, edgarblythe, had suddenly gone right. And overreacted. Comically, even when I read it now.
Craven, again:
I have been greatly stimulated by our give-and-take on your "temporary" thread, and thought my remarks were complete with the compliments I paid you a few pages forward from the one you cite above.
On second thought, leaving it there would have been the wisest course.
We could have avoided exchanging all this subsequent unpleasantry.
I had more fun on the Temporary Conservative thread than just about any other since joining a2k.
thanks again for the advice on the site
