its not really a question of who started the 'merryment'.
people on here build very good friendships - a lot of us chat by email, pm, phone and in person.
when a person leaps in within their first few posts and starts chucking quite sharp comments at long standing member (very good friends of some other members) that newer person may get a reaction along the lines you did a while ago.
in this instance, it is similar. we all chuck insults at certain people, but usually people we know, have met or chat with - look at the stick Arty and I give - we chat often on IM, so know which buttons to push and not - similarly, Lumpy gets away with saying stuff about me that many would not - but then he lets me have his spare room when I'm in that area!!
not many of us have had the opportunity to meet you - your personal circs made that impossible for the main Bash - and so your humour can be and has been mis-read (possibly mis-read, I'm assuming you aren't as sharp and cutting as this to deliberately upset peeps?).
Maybe you can see from the above how your responses to someone you don't know/have never spoken to, who has damaged their bike, might be misinterpreted.
This is a public forum, but most seem to realise that it is also a group of people that have made some very good friends within the public bit. if you see us ripping the P, you can be pretty damn certain that those people know each other well enough to do that.
I have been suprised on previous occaisions at some of your comments, even more so when I find that you don't know the person concerned. Its not necessarily a bad thing to be outspoken on a public forum, but on one where very strong friendships are built (which must be pretty obvious on reading the threads), you can expect to get strong responses.
am now off to hide whilst battle continues
