I definitely had a very biased opinion earlier.
I am glad this wound down and people were allowed to express their varied opinions. That people who felt Samsonov should retire can present that opinion while letting people who feel that Samsonov should not retire express their opinion. And then that third group who feel that it is Samsonov who should determine when he should retire and not fans on a forum. It is okay to express your own opinion. AS LONG AS you LET other people also express their opinions.
And why I stepped in, is, you, for a time, answered each separate person who said anything other than your opinion, with increasingly more aggressive posts about why your perspective was the only one.
This pattern culminated with you proclaiming the line which several people singled out. NextLevel adeptly explained what the actual problem with the statement was.
My argument is different and has been made earlier. Drunix80 is a good guy generally and I have no reason to doubt his genuineness and his opinion. What I don't like are conditional insults being thrown around in an atmosphere of disagreement. It's a common strategy used to incite people - if the shoe fits, wear it. If he had said, "Only stupid people like to see their favorite legends lose", I would have felt precisely the same way.
The statement is very well worded. By the way, if you were paying attention, the first time NextLevel expressed what was wrong with the statement was pretty darn entertaining. But here he explained it directly instead of showing the problem in an object-lesson.
It is okay to disagree and post your opinion. But once you have posted your opinion, it should be able to stand on its own. You don't need to argue in response to each and every comment that counters your opinion. Your opinion is already there. And it won't go away simply because there is a comment after it. People can judge for themselves.
Now I understand the impulse to respond to each and every thing anyone has said that may have missed the point of what you said. I understand the impulse to see if you can figure out better and more unassailable methods for formulating your positions and arguments.
I have been there and done that. I even got the free t-shirt and the chicken and beer bill from Der_Echte to prove it. [emoji2] You can also ask Suga D about how many times I've done that. [emoji2]
So, I don't think you have done any harm. Especially since you backed off and realized that other people actually do have a right to disagree with you and that being open to varied perspectives is actually good and healthy and does not mean you have to agree.
But as a moderator I stepped in because things were a hair short of getting ugly and out of hand. And you were the center of the storm. Now you are no longer the center of the storm but became part of a good discussion.
So, thank you.
Hopefully me explaining why I did what I did does not reignite the silliness. Because I think this thread has mostly run its course.
Thank you for being open and understanding that valid opinions should be encouraged not the opposite. And that on the forum it is good to have passionate debates. But it is worth keeping them civil.
Sent from The Subterranean Workshop by Telepathy
