There are certainly multiple sides to this whole issue.

I can understand that merlyn would be a little tired of answering what to him are very basic questions.

I can understand someone voting a post negative because they percieve it to me be "mean" or "curt". (and I do mean anyone's post here)

I do know that everyone in this community brings something to it, even if only a different viewpoint.

All that being said...
Is a negative vote really worth getting uptight over? Honestly? I just do not see that it is. People are not always logical, and someone could log in in a very bad mood and vote all their votes negative on semi-random posts just because at that moment that feels good. Silly, but true. Yes, it would be the polite, and contructive, thing to do to make a post or message exlpaining a negative vote. But I just do not see where a negative vote is worth getting upset about, explanation or no.
We all have different humors, experiences, and ways of looking at things. The same words printed in the same way under the same circumstances will affect me differently than it affects you. Remember that forums like this are bad in one respect: there is no body language, no vocal tone, nothing to help in your interpretation of what you see written. I am sure we all have had experiences were something that was written sounded horrid, but was not intended in that vien.

Yes, merlyn can be considered curt at times. But if you do not take the tone personally, there is generally a LOT of information within there. No, I am not saying that manners need to go out the window. But, should you see anyone's post that is a little curt, look past it. (Note: a curt post is NOT the same thing as one that is an attack. Attacks are certainly undesireable; curtness can be forgiven.)
And as for the negative votes on posts all I can say is this: in the end, it does not matter. My two posts that gone -1 do not make me any less a person, just as those that made it to +6 (high for me) do not mean that I am better than someone who has no +6.

Basically, I guess I am just saying:

1) Do not take votes on your posts either way so seriously.

2) Answer posts as you would like to be answered.

3) Look past what might sound pretty curt and see if there is something you can use for the better within the words.



I understand all this is long and wishy sounding; thanks for your time nevertheless.

Roy Alan

In reply to RE: by royalanjr
in thread "running with scissors" by merlyn

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.