>>25607
*sigh* How on earth do I respond to that?
You're one of the most civil people who've responded to me so far, so you deserve a response... but I'm in a catch 22: if I defend myself, one group of anon trolls will rage about "shitting on/filling the thread with stuff about me" simply because I reply methodically (i.e. with something longer than a micro-tweet with misspellings and lol's and emojis), and simply because I don't roll over and submit meekly to them (and why the hell should I?). If I don't defend myself, another group (or perhaps the same group) of anon trolls will gloat that I have no defense against what they said. Frustrating. But I'll try, for the sake of your civility, and for the sake of the many lurkers that you mention. I'll let the reader be the judge of whether I'm being reasonable or not.
(Sorry about the numbered list, if that's not your thing--just trying to stay focused.)
1. I have NEVER attacked ANYONE else on this forum simply because I didn't like their stuff. Not once. Go check. I find that to be obnoxious, rude, and completely lacking in maturity and self-control. (If I don't like something, I simply pass over it and look for something that I *do* like. I don't think that my opinions are such a "gift from God to the world" that every opinion of mine needs to be splattered online.) Every pointed/sharp comment I've ever made on this forum was in self-defense against someone who shot off his mouth. I do think that's worth something, yes? And when people join the convo halfway through and see a pointed or irritated reply from me (which was provoked and completely justified), it's frustrating when those people say, "Wow, you're writing big, irritable posts--play nice, can't you?"
2. I really and honestly did NOT post the comments with code "e4740a". And I'm just as baffled as you as to why comment 25548 had a variant of my name (unless, as I guessed, the anon was trying to put my name in the subject line of the comment, and " missed"). But there's no logical way for me to prove that. ,I could point to the different login codes (see above), and you could just reply, "You hopped on a different computer, or a different browser!" I could even ask the mods to do an IP search (if they can do that) to show that they're different--but you could just reply, "You used a VPN, or something!" I don't know what to tell you. Believe what you like, and call me a liar if you like. I've said my piece on that, and I stand by it. You're simply mistaken.
(Quick technical note: this is a subtle point, but I *always* use allcaps with "NBM" and capitalize the "D" in "Dude", and the comment in 25548 spelled it "Nbm dude". Small point, but it implies two things:
(a) It couldn't have been a case of me "forgetting to change/delete my normal name" in order to try a sock-puppet... since the forum auto-populates the name line with what was typed before... i.e. "NBM Dude"... which makes the "you forgot to change your name" comment in 25562 simply stupid.
b) To get the new spelling, I'd have had to go out of my WAY to type a brand-new version of my name into a message that I supposedly intended as an "anonymous fake reply" from someone OTHER than me. Think about that for just a second: does that sound at all reasonable?
3. I didn't start this thread simply to promote my own work, nor is that even the main point. Almost every step of the way, I've welcomed (sometimes enthusiastically) other contributions and references; I always LOVE seeing new NBM works that are good. I've praised at least 4 different creators (diegocv, silentbear, MrWrapture, okome0250) and included references when possible, so that people can go enjoy their work. I'm not sure where you get the idea that I was self-serving, in that. Never have I said that my stuff is superior to anyone else's; if anything, I praise theirs and gripe about the limitations in my own. I enjoy the material, I enjoy creating the material, and I enjoy sharing the material (whether it's mine or not), and that's it. My arguments with trolls does not change that, one bit. Again... with all due respect, you're simply off-base, here, and you've misjudged me.
4 When I said that it was "my thread", I didn't mean that in any absolute sense; I don't know if you caught earlier exchanges on other threads, but some anons were outraged that I was posting things on some of those threads which they claim didn't fit the "intent" of the thread... so I retreated to the thread which I started, to avoid that nonsense. I hope you can see that I'm in no danger of "violating the intent" of the thread if I *started* the thread? That's what I meant. I wasn't trying to claim absolute ownership, or anything.
5. I have absolutely no problem with anyone being "put off" by my work. I've been "put off" by LOTS of things posted to this forum (some of which I found downright disturbing), but I personally feel that a little self-control and self-editing in my replies (or declining to reply) goes a long way. "If you can't say anything nice about something, don't say anything at all", and all that rot? Look on this forum, and see if you can find ANY example where I commented on someone else's work other than to PRAISE them. You won't find any. That's just how I roll. You say that others have different approaches. Sure, they do. Some act polite, some act irritable, some act funny, and some act like obnoxious assholes. I don't think it's a "scandal" to the hordes of lurkers and civil people when I call out assholes for ass-holing. Most people will read and say, "Hm... yeah, that troll was asking for that. Nothing to see, here. Moving on..."
And there you have it. I invested a good deal of typing in this, because I appreciated your civility, and because--although you made some errors along the way--you asked thoughtful questions, and I wanted to give them as thorough a response as they deserved. Some find looooong posts to be obnoxious by definition (and I'm sure I'll hear from those who think so, and who have no self-editor)... but I intended it as a compliment to you (thoughtful question deserves thoughtful response, which usually doesn't fit into a sound-byte).
And with that... I'm happy to leave this topic to fade into the sunset, and continue with the thread, already in progress! :) Thanks for writing.