Soarer is a voice of reason and maturity. I hope people will pay attention and emulate.
For the record, my "annoying" PMs to the guys running the Phantom GB were entirely of the nature, "I'm sorry to bug you again; I would like to add another 111 switches to my order. I'm a bit confused: should I get 111 of each color, or just red, blue, and clear, and then a handful of all of the others?" My ignorance of these things a few months ago was patently clear, and it may very well have become annoying to answer so many newb questions.
On the other hand, when I PMed litster directly today, after he publicly disrespected me several times in several threads, to ask him what his problem was with me, he retorted in a stream of vulgarity that, best I can decipher from the non-vulgar words, simply says "You **** are **** **** **** annoying **** ****me!!!!!" Slightly dramatized, but not much to go on toward modifying my communication with him. I'd post the PM, but I have ethics and will not violate a confidence, not even of a rude bully.
I had hoped that people would have had some time to process whatever... and calm down, but apparently not. That is sad. Despite having "annoyed" pretty much every faction at geekhack.org at one point or another, that has rarely, if ever, been my intent--and most everyone recognizes that and extends respect, forgiveness, and even kindness. Sometimes the jovial banter gets out of hand, but rarely does it devolve into truly personal attacks--I believe those are against the rules... It's a shame that the big noise makers here seem to enjoy exercising their egos with belligerence and nastiness toward one person--and it is dismaying that they would tarnish the reputation of all GB runners, not to mention moderators (and indeed iMav's baby here) by abusing their position in both cases--perhaps they forget that there is a person behind the icon here, because I poke fun at myself too. Do they truly believe that I am an alien and have fish swimming inside of my skull??
I really thought that geekhack.org was here to bring newbs out of ignorance, and to welcome them into the fold; not to pummel them to the point they leave in disgust, just as ignorant, and with a newfound distaste for the mechanical keyboard community.
I will leave y'all with one little tip: when someone asks a question that you find offensive, note first that it was a question, and then address it calmly, rationally, and politely with all the respect you would extend to a friend. You may well find that you see eye to eye.
Let me give you an example of how rational calm adults might behave:
captain: Is this for the Phantom GB stuff? He has $100s of my $s too. Have we been robbed?! :-o
litster: Hey, man, I read that as an accusation that we are crooks, please re-word that question ASAP! I've contacted BiNiaRiS and he'll be along in a moment to answer all concerns.
captain: Oh, no! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to imply anything of the sort; just joking around, but a little concerned at the thread here, indicating a failure to communicate. I'll edit my post immediately, and look forward to hearing from BiNiaRiS.
BiNiaRiS: No, of course we aren't crooks! Sorry to be incommunicado for so long . Here is what's happening...."
Taking offense where there was none intended, expressed, or implied, but merely inferred by the reader, and then escalating that emotion with attacks, is immature and antisocial. I will not engage with that kind of behavior.
I expect apologies, and a sea change in attitude at geekhack.org.
