"You always have good intentions, but you can go way overboard sometimes."
The nice thing about having long-time friends is that they are willing to bring some things to your attention that others don't, or won't.
One of my many such friends watches more of the various CW shows than I do, and visits some of the fan sites too, although she doesn't do any postings on them. However, she does find my postings on this site's Forum interesting and she usually agrees with me maybe a little more than half the time. But not this time.
We have played "the devil's advocate" with each other many times over the years, and that works for me because I enjoy hearing other people's ideas about things because they force me to re-examine and justify my own ideas and opinions.
However, she has recently pointed out to me that, while this works well enough with good friends, this approach doesn't always work with strangers. When I pointed out that I 'know' many of the people who also post on the Forum, she countered by saying that recognizing their 'non de plumes' isn't the same as knowing them personally. We talked about many things, but the above "quote" and the other comments are all that's really relevant to my recent postings.
And, after reflecting on what she said, I realized that she is completely right. I have taken something that I am very comfortable doing with close friends and used it on the Forum many times, and that has been presumptuous on my part, and very unfair to each of you. None of my contributions to any topic on The Forum has ever been done with the intention of putting anyone off, or of wanting to make anyone feel as if their opinion isn't important, because they all are; but my conversation with "A" has made me realize that this is what I may have done.
This humble apology to all of you is my idea, not hers, but I am thankful that the motivation for my doing so is, rather ironically, because of her playing 'the devil's advocate' for me. And I hope that anyone who may have felt less appreciated will realize how very sorry I am if I have given you that impression.
And now, if you'll all excuse me, I'll just go and sit in a corner for a little while.