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*chuckle* I "discredited" myself in the eyes of those who likely didn't care in the first place and for whom I care nothing of their opinion of me.
I call it as I see it, and anyone that knows me knows they can expect brutal honesty from me at any time on any subject. That quality, while not appreciated by all, has led me to numerous successful projects where people valued honesty over the kind of dishonest showmanship that is commonly exhibited today. Do most people appreciate it? Probably not, since dishonest tactics have been, and continue to be, successful in the world for a long time regarding a variety of subjects. But most people are also ignorant and fail to analyze things, relying on intial impressions. While that may be the reality of the world, that's why the world is like it is. People are quite often fools who support the very things and individuals which they dislike because they fall for the bull**** instead of thinking things through.
Sadly, there's probably not hope for a lot of them since they just don't have the intelligence or the reasoning skills to discern the bull**** from the facts. One can try to help them, but at some point, it's up to them to think. And most don't. Some can't. A few won't.
What we have is a group of MUDs with an advantage gained through vague terminology. They don't want to lose that advantage. They're protecting that advantage. The arguments over the definition of "free" and claims of extremely-rare instances of players overcoming the obstacles of the pay-for-perks system are smokescreens to cover the facts, just like Matt's attempt in another discussion to spin a typo in an IRE banner ad as somehow deliberately being left in to turn heads rather than being the result of shoddy work.
It's about manipulating perception rather than being honest. I don't like it and neither do a lot of other people in the world. Many fall for it, I realize that. But just because many people, hell maybe even a majority, do fall for it doesn't mean it's right or that I need to. Nor shall I. I'm not going to pussyfoot around them either though.
So "frighteningly immature" is really a poor choice of words. Blunt, yes, I won't deny that. But sometimes it takes a little blunt honesty to make people think. At least they know where they stand with me, which is more than can be said for some of the snake-oil salesmen in the world.
Take care,
Jason
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