From: b.scott@csuohio.edu   
      
   On Wed, 24 Sep 2008 13:56:27 +1200, Zeborah   
    wrote in   
    in   
   rec.arts.sf.misc:   
      
   > Brian M. Scott  wrote:   
      
   >> On Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:24:04 +1000, Aqua   
   >>  wrote in   
   >>  in   
   >> rec.arts.sf.misc:   
      
   >>> Brian M. Scott wrote:   
      
   >>>> If the matter had been handled properly at the beginning,   
   >>>> we very likely wouldn't have had this miserable thread.   
      
   >>> I don't think this is the kind of subject where arguments   
   >>> like "if the matter had been handled properly at the   
   >>> beginning" are remotely constructive, but only serve to   
   >>> make the situation more heated.   
      
   >> It isn't an argument.   
   >    
      
   > Brian, would you prefer that I reply to what you're saying   
   > here, or would that just split the thread into confusion   
   > and should I wait until you're ready to answer one of my   
   > other posts?  [...]   
      
   The word 'properly' was ill-chosen, unnecessarily and   
   unintentionally provocative: I should have written something   
   like 'as I think it might better have been handled'.  That   
   was careless, and I apologize.  I stand by the substance,   
   however, as it was intended, namely, as an expression of   
   opinion about the likely course of events in an alternate   
   reality.  It was not an argument, and it was not intended as   
   an argument; at most it was a partial explanation of my   
   reaction.  It's an opinion that you don't share; beyond that   
   there doesn't seem to be much to say.   
      
   (Truth to tell, I'm more than a bit tired of the whole   
   thing.  The occasional stray chivalric impulse can be a   
   royal pain in the arse.)   
      
   Brian   
      
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