nothing you say can force anyone to like you when the practical results of your character shine through so clearly
Dear Maverick:
I can't imagine why you think I would aspire to be "liked" by you or your fellow Carp or even by anyone else who posts here, at least as a primary motivation for visiting here.
This is not a "Mutual Admiration Society" -- although it has been monopolized by some for that purpose.
This is a forum for the expression of ideas and opinions associated with words.
If someone favors an idea I might have or an opinion, or insights I might bring here expressed by others -- whether or not they favor me, personally, as the originator or messenger -- then I am rewarded and encouraged, and this is what I look for in others.
Friendship I can find in the real world. And flattery is a balm for the insecure.
If it's friendship and flattery you seek, Maverick, you should look for it in the real world, not here.
If posters happen to make some friends in this forum in the process of exchanging ideas and debating ideas -- the more openly and honestly and candidly, the better -- those friendships are an incidental pleasure, not the raison d'etre of AWADtalk.
If you and your fellow Carp want to soothe your insecurities in a sanctuary of fawning flatteries, you should take your Mutual Admiration Society some place where the real world cannot intrude upon your fantasies.
