Ulrich, you are doing the same thing you did when you were posting as ullrich: implying that the rest of us are ignorant/foolish/stupid. I have noticed that this occurs pretty much whenever someone voices a different opinion from yours. Different tastes do not equate to stupidity. Hmm--let's say that I had tried to get you to embrace, oh, say Eminem, and you told me that you didn't care for him. But if I were passionate about him, I might tell you something like, "Trying to run down Eminem is so very silly. He is one of the most important singers of the modern movement. Even the New York Times will tell you that. And unlike the hack blurb-authors of teen magazine hyperbole, qualified reviewers don't throw superlatives at singers willy-nilly. At the risk of offending you, I have to say that you are only making yourself look stupid. Eminem represents the voice of the people." Now--if you agree that not liking or understanding Eminem doesn't make you an ignoramus, then I hope you can also see that someone who doesn't like or understand Joyce isn't necessarily stupid. The vast majority of regular posters here have very high intelligence. Very high. And despite that, we have managed to learn not to insult each other, or at least to work it out if we have, and at the very least agree to differ. So far, you haven't seemed willing to concede that anyone who doesn't think the way you do might be just as entitled to his or her opinion as you are to yours; and if that doesn't change, I think that once again you will not be welcome here.
Also, posting insults and then saying you were only bantering won't soothe people's feelings, either. The right of teasing-by-insult comes only after a long-enough and well-understood relationship that ensures that all parties know it IS teasing. You are still too new here--in any persona--to have earned that right.
