John -

Thanks for your understanding. I tend to approach things online by default as if no one else was taking things seriously, either--I mean, to me, an insult delivered through an electronic medium by a person I have never met has all the significance of a "yo momma" type joke (which is to say, it's not an insult at all, it's a game that should not be mistaken for an actual insult).

Really, though, based on the discussions I've seen here, if people are treating this as if it were a face to face discussion, this community has some seriously angry people in it, which is kind of frightening.

I will not apologize for using words that other people find offensive, because both in real life and online, because in my opinion, anyone who is offended by a word needs therapy. I freely apologize for using the wrong mode of discourse for this community, however, and I'll try not to do it again.