Mr. Ramsey, please set the record straight once and for all: did you or did you not kill JonBennet? <BR>

&lt;&lt;I must agree. I only come to this board now when I am really really bored because I know there will be someone on here trying to pick a fight. A troll I think they call it. I just replied to the Maui Heidi thread, telling the jerk to "get a life".&gt;&gt; Suncloud <BR> <BR>Does Suncloud not have the insight to see exazctly how hypocritical the above statement is? This is exactly the problem with people like Hippo, Suncloud, et al -- something is perfectly okay when they do it but not when someone else does. Hippo is not Miss Manners and feels he is perfectly polite in calling everyone else hypocrites. Whether something is a personal attack or a substantive one is frequently subjective. Thin-skinned people with poor self-image do not like anyone to disagree with them, even when there is no insult or rude words attached to it and label it an insult. I know as any time I disagree with someone, merely stating my opinion in a factual statement (ie, someone loves Disneyland, I do not and explain exactly why, etc.) people take offense because they cannot stand anyone disagreeing with them and do not like it when someone does. It doesn't bother me in the slightest that someone disagrees with me as I know myself, have confidence in my opinions, and know what they are based on and don't give a rat's ass if someone else loves Disneyland and I don't. I have never seen anyone attacked for a typo, although it's true I don't frequent this board that often. I suspect the riting style, typos, etc problems are really borderline illiteracy and I think anyone who does not care about writing correctly or know how to spell simple English words deserves to be criticized if they feel it necessary to write public statements on a public forums. This is not a personal attack either, it is an attack on illiteracy and sloppy thought processes. Hippo should learn that "get a life" IS a criticism of the substantive thought expressed in his posts, not him as a person, that's exactly what it was. Perhaps "get a life" could be said more elegantly, but it's quite clear that it IS a criticism of the ideas, although people like Hippo are not very introspective in that regard and refuse to accept the fact that someone thinks their ideas suck. Many, many times I have seen noninflammatory, factual statements of opinion labeled insults, etc, by people on this board. (Hippo may be a woman, who knows, but used the generic "he", someone thinking a woman would not choose a handle of hippo). And there are plenty of people without lives on the Europe board a la Hippo.

Certain individuals on the board have taken to posting new headings when they feel they have been dissed. One Fodorite's overwrought and over-analyzed epistle of a lofty term paper response was met with yawns. This infuriated the scholar beyond words, because she spent the majority of her day at work composing and typing the epistle, and the ingrates on this board would not even concede to her superior intellect! They actually continued to express their own views even after she posted her definitive Thesis of the World! What more could possibly be said after SHE posted? <BR> <BR>Perhaps we need an understanding here. Anyone who takes the time to compose and post lengthy theories,, particulary when you can see quite clearly that their e-mail address contains .edu, should not have the their posts commented upon in any way. If you question or comment or chuckle at the epistle, you've hurt the poster's feelings, therefore it's a personal attack, and you're a baddie, a meanie, a crabbie and just downright rude. Opposition is always rude. <BR> <BR>So if you find yourself about to post, look at e-mail address, assess the post content and ask yourself if you should really DARE to post anything about threads written by people who are obviously your intellectual superiors (the .edu should clue you in). <BR> <BR>But you already knew that, didn't you? ;)

I think my posts have been misinterpreted, possibly because this discussion is getting lengthy. I never called anyone a hypocrite -- others have, as I stated in my initial post. And I don't agree that "Get a life" is a respectful way to disagree with the substance of a post. It is an insult, plain and simple, and intended to be. <BR> <BR>That said, Diogenes, you are surely correct that some people flip out if they say they like Disney and you say you don't. And you are right that they need to tolerate a little dissent. But if someone says they like Disney, and you respond that they should get a life, well, that's quite different, IMHO. <BR> <BR>Anyway, I've enjoyed the discussion. Happy travels to you all.

The whole point of posting this "question" was so that exactly this kind of "discussion" would take place. Personally I agree with the cat herder.

The next time I'm in court and opposing counsel states his/her position, I won't bother with a well-reasoned point-by-point dismantling of his/her argument. I'll just look him/her straight in the eye and say, "Get a life!"

Michelle, as someone who has served on two different juries, I can tell you that that's probably all it would take to win your case. Not a single jury panelist, in either jury, took any notes during the trials at all. I was the only one who was able to read back to them, point-by-point, the arguments of the attorneys. They didn't have a clue as to how to begin or structure deliberations. Pretty scary. Better hope you're never on trial for anything.

Out of all of these responses I see one sentence that sums it all up" <BR> <BR>"All participation here is voluntary."

Mel, I'm sure jury procedural rules vary, but when I recently served on a jury in Cook County, Illinois, we were told we could take notes, but would not be allowed to bring them intro the jury room during deliberations. The only written things we could take were the judge's instructions as to the points of law, but we the jury were to determine what and whether facts had been established. I assume you meant to imply that most jurors are not capable of performing the job, but in my experience this was not the case.

If Get a life is a fine way to disagree with someone, would it be allright if I shorten it a bit and just say Bite Me?

Ever since reading that thread where people were trying to figure out what in the hell that topper woman is doing in posting over and over no messages on threads to get them to rise to the top of the heap I have been trying to figure out what thread it is that that tooper woman is trying to bury underneath all the posts she made rise unnaturally to the top and I think it must have been this one as it had it's last post right before the time she started sending all those other threads to the top for no reason. I don't think one person should control what posts are in the top 150 posts and so I am adding somthing to this thread just to send it up as I think that's what topper was trying to hide.

Back to the top!!!

Gary, learn to spell my "daughter's" name and maybe I'll tell you. <BR> <BR>Re: Talk on Europe board being more civil. Those are probably Americans trying to put up a nice front. No one in Europe, in my vast experiences are NICE. Neither are many Americans judging by this board, but at least they put up a good facade.

....oh, and here we have a man suspected of murdering his daughter telling us about civility and decorum?