1) Who is brian? 2) No, I do not. I start my discussions out with "Rather hyperbolic. The statistics quoted are accurate, but it's unfair to say that market forces aren't working." "Couple things they should have gotten into but didn't:" "There are substantial impediments to adoption, unfortunately." "This is a very silly statement." "Not mentioned in the article:" "I don't think so. " "Well, a real tongue-in-cheek paper on time travel." "I asked you to do a very specific thing for a very specific reason. " "You keep missing this: I'm all about letting new users do whatever they want on the site." "Perfect demonstration of the problem: You don't know me, I don't know you. You don't know the culture around here, I do." "No, it sends the message that I am an insular and guarded asshole, rather than an opening and welcoming asshole." "There's a reason I chose to put it in #bugski: the likelihood of new users following that tag is negligible." That's an even dozen examples - the most egregious ones I could find over the past week - wherein my preamble is basically 'I have knowledge that you do not." In every example I could have said "you don't know what you're talking about." In every example, I very carefully said anything but that. Think about that for a minute. 1) I have knowledge. 2) I wish to share it. 3) I'm going out of my way to avoid antagonizing the other party. You've seen me debate; you've probably concluded that when I wish to antagonize someone, I'm pretty good at it. Have you ever wondered what it's like to try and share knowledge with someone who doesn't wish to receive it? And how you go about it? And the approaches you take? See, most of the people on here have. We're all trying to get along, so we're generally respectful. Every now and then, though, somebody new shows up. They're usually a big fish in a small pond; they're used to being the smartest guy in the room. And when you demonstrate that their knowledge is imperfect, however nicely, from a position where they do not know or respect your credentials, you present them with an existential threat. You demonstrate to them that they might be the smartest guy in the room no longer. You present a different opinion that they're under no pressure to accept... ...and a lot of them don't. A lot of them, in fact, react with antagonism. Case in point that I didn't link to: mk and I go back and forth about site stuff all the time. He screwed up about tags once; as a consequence, I rub his nose in it every time he suggests a site functionality I disagree with. It probably annoys him, but I honestly don't think it annoys him more than any running joke of which you are the butt. It also gives me an inflated position of credibility which is useful when you're telling someone else how to run their website. So here I am, having a conversation with mk about site functionality when suddenly a wild redditor appears: Riddle me this, Batman - how, exactly, does one prevent conflict with someone whose first words to you are "you are one of the most insufferable people on the internet?" Other than going "whelp, I just made an enemy from having an opinion, maybe I ought not to converse with that there luckless fellow?"You are one of the most insufferable people on the internet. I am severely disappointed, coming here from reddit, to find you here whining.