: : "my definition"? You're dragging this to a dangerously
: : personal level and that is COMPLETELY unnecessary.

: I am not sure how this question is "dangerously personal".
: There was no intent to be derogatory or insulting in the
: question. I hope it was not seen in that light. I am new to the
: internet and not completely sure of the etiquette involved. The
: question was intended to be an honest query. If I should have
: phrased it differently please let me know. I very much enjoy
: the discussions on this site.

Any time you start including the other person in your statements or questions, you run dangerously close to reducing a disagreement to a personal attack. Disagreeing with people is okay on this board. I haven't offered any definitions. Hence, suggesting that I have is inappropriate.

My opinions are usually prefaced with "I think", "I suppose", "I guess", "it doesn't seem that way to me", "I feel", etc. If I don't say something like that, I'm not expressing an opinion. I may make an erroneous statement of fact while not expressing my opinion, but then I'm only in error, not expressing an opinion.

Generally speaking, you'll find that I'm sensitive to the way people say things. I've been attacked so many times on the news groups for disagreeing with people -- and for correcting them on obscure points -- that I tend to become wary when people start talking about "my" definitions and "my" opinions before I've offered any. That's usually the first sign that the other person is about to change the discussion into a flame war and start attacking me, rather than continue to disagree or argue with me.

And these are pretty good signs for everyone, not just me. But I tend to draw more fire than most. People don't like to be told they are wrong, or that their all-encompassing wisdom doesn't convince everyone immediately. We delete flame threads on the White Council, so you never see them for long here, but there are plenty archived on Deja.Com from the news groups. I'm involved in only a miniscule fraction of them.
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