@NL , great stuff and great debate , I hope you don't mind a mini filibuster ....
I have to do the social courtesy of accepting Archo's apology, it takes a lot of guts to say sorry if you really mean it , a piece of advise don't use "whoever" , especially because a very similar word "whatever" has been abused by teens all over the world and it comes very close to cast shadows on the earnestness ...
I did not hold a grudge against you for so long for what you said, you did offend me at the time but I don't like holding grudges and definitely not against somebody who I don't take seriously in an online forum , I don't think thats what Carl meant when he mentioned the incident, he was just trying to show you an example of how you have rubbed people the wrong way in the past , but he can clarify himself. But anyways, apology accepted.
The thing is , we will really know that you are trying to change your ways when we see changes in your behavior :
1. Get to a table tennis club , even if once a week
2. try to get a real coach to help you
3. don't wear jeans and post good videos which will really get you good feedback , the stuff you post is very painful to watch, most of the time.
4. however if you really don't want to do any of this, please don't say you are advancing by leaps and bounds ever so often , because most of us here were not trained since we were kids and we really know how hard it is to develop in this sport when you were not trained for 6-7 hours daily since you were a 6 year old
and stop your attention seeking antics , people will automatically pay you the amount of attention you deserve as long as you establish your credibility ..
... as they say actions speak louder than words ...
@Yecats : Not sure how long you have been following table tennis forums , but the people who are here for quite some time know that the top two topics to start an excited discussion in a table tennis forum is "Who was the greatest table tennis player of all time" and "Will Ma Long be able to beat Waldner in his prime" .
Please understand people here really love their sport and are very passionate about their icons (including Der_Echte and his unabashed drooling over Seo Hyo Won
) , so its very similar to starting a debate about Pele and Maradona in a soccer forum .
Also, the nature of debates, unless you are talking about goody two shoes high school debaters, all over the world is that if people who are passionate about the subject will start attacking your premise and arguments. And thats how debates are supposed to go and boy o boy you should look up youtube for some parliament debates it will help you understand.
I have been attacked racially in this forum and I let it go purely because I knew the person in question was a pathological impostor and I knew very well taking an offense would be playing into his hand and giving him the satisfaction of knowing that he was able to get under my skin , not sure you were around at that time.
As long its not a personal attack and nobody is calling you names or questioning your lucidity I don't see any reason to take offense as long as it is a fact based discussion. If you are really that thin skinned then you always have the option of skipping the posts / putting people on ignore lists.
