*What I do object to however, is
school bully tactics as this
metadiscussion is displaying.*

Foxy, you really are far too nice!

I don't think that anyone is trying
to bully anyone, but like in the playground,
some of us fellas play a bit rougher then the
girls :)

I think that there is quite a difference between
posters. In my case I have a very dry sense of
humour and never take things personally. OLO is
a fairly gentle place to debate, compared to some
really wild forums like the Guardian etc.

For me its very much about separating emotion from
reason, but some posters do in fact get rather hot
under the collar and become upset :( Well that is
just debate, it can't be helped. If we were all
sensitive little petals, we would not participate
in these debates.

I really appreciate the dry wit of some posters,
the irony etc, they make it worth reading.

Now, yup, some are emotionally engulfed, take it
all very personally, get very angry, but surely
that is their problem that they need to deal with?

Separating emotion from reason is the basis of
emotional intelligence. Some can do it, some
can't. So be it.

I appreciate clever posters and there are quite
a few on OLO. I certainly would not call them
bullies, simply good debaters.

Dear Yabby,

When I read the first couple of posts
on this thread I identified what I
thought was you guys ganging up on
Polycarp. That I thought was unfair.
One on one - fair enough, but all in
together, - I interpreted that as
bullying - plain and simple.

It seems that I got it wrong.
And I apologise.

Have fun.

I post an acknowledgement that I was mocking a certain well known troll but deny any involvement in a gang.

I express regret at having bothered the lovely Foxy.

R0bert

Dear Robert,

As Vanilla would say, "Aw shucks!"

You know that you're greatly admired
for your calm, rational, and
logical posts.

(And your skinny-dipping in mountain
river streams). :)

I post a link to an article I wrote about this on OzPolitic a few years back that clears up everyone's confusion.