I have been debating the wisdom of posting this, but I feel I must.

I'd like to apologize for posting that stupid 'America's image...' thread. I posted it hastily without thinking through what the consequences might be. I usually have better judgement than that.

Well, that thread turned real nasty, real quick, and I can blame no one but myself for that, as I was the one who started the thing in the first place.

I'd like to proffer additional apologies to the non-Americans posting on that board. I said some ugly things in a few of my posts, which were completely unjustified. I regret them deeply.

Anyway, lesson learned. Enough said.

PennyRice, the denizens of the billions of planets of M64 have never heard of "America", so they could care less.

The universe it too wonderful, and big, a place to worry too much of ephemeral things ...

I thought it was an interesting and provocative thread myself. Judging by the reponse you weren't the only one who had been thinking hard on this.

And like Sarah Conner's workmate says in the Terminator: "Look at it this way, in a hundred years who's gonna care?"

I know all too well what you are talking about but..

It would be nice if those who turn nasty would realize when they turn nasty that they are just as guilty of their accusations...

now that would seem a little stupid to me
it was lively discussion and i liked it
(did not post though myself and read only (large) chunks of it)
then there are still the moderators who can shut the whole damn thing down before it comes to a melt down (their(!) duty that)
if you yourself strayed into ugliness an apology might be warranted
but there is a huge difference between careening into the realm of the nasty (might even be a legitimate communicative tool on occasion) or beeing gratuitously nasty on default
there will come the time when we are minded by net-bots
in these happier times we should be thankful for the (mostly) subtle decerning intelligence of our wet ware minders

I absolutely agree, although my wetware minder seems to go on vacation occasionally--probably to the planet M64

Moderators can't be everywhere at once.

__________________
The dose makes the poison--Paracelsus (1493-1541) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracelsus

I don't know. That's why I'm asking--Noclevername

Intelligence may not be clearly defined, but you know stupid when you see it--Noclevername

Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge--Carl Sagan (1934-1996)

hi PennyRice (and welcome)

click on Nereid's "M64" link ((thanks for reminding us what we should be here for btw!)) and have a good on you

as you are new (and even many senior members don't know it):
there is a triangular hot button on each post card (upper right corner)
if the reactor over heats (and you push on it) the bells start ringing
in all the six corners of the globe and the moderators
are on the scene in a flash ((or so i understand it))
(perhaps you should rather study the BAUT rules to learn when to use it)

(quoted for the beauty of it)

Some of them can. I'm convinced that ToSeek is omnipresent on the internet.

__________________
The quarrelsome oarsmen were rowing,
The great violinist was bowing;
But how is the sage
To tell, from the page:
Was it pigs or seeds that were sowing?

As one of the non-Americans who posted on that thread, I'd like to say "don't sweat it". While I did not read all of the other posts (I was posting in the mid-30s on the Sunday evening, then in the 140s on the Monday evening! Man, I've never seen a thread explode so fast!), I found that some of the more aggressive posts gave precisely the opposite message to that intended by their authors, so I took no offense.

And I think Lurch GS and I must have come close to setting a record for the longest posts, if not by sheer word number, then at least by paragraphs ...

__________________
The quarrelsome oarsmen were rowing,
The great violinist was bowing;
But how is the sage
To tell, from the page:
Was it pigs or seeds that were sowing?

Yup, you and LurchGS were up there in length

I couldn't believe the interest either! Another thread started up right after that on the same topic (or thereabouts) and was promising to go the same way, but the moderator shut it down very quickly.

Thanks for your kind words! I must say, I did enjoy reading your posts on that thread

__________________
The dose makes the poison--Paracelsus (1493-1541) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracelsus

I don't know. That's why I'm asking--Noclevername

Intelligence may not be clearly defined, but you know stupid when you see it--Noclevername

Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge--Carl Sagan (1934-1996)

Pleased to be of service.

__________________
The quarrelsome oarsmen were rowing,
The great violinist was bowing;
But how is the sage
To tell, from the page:
Was it pigs or seeds that were sowing?