"...the gullible souls who crowd round him to pat him on the head, indulge him and tell the rest of us not to be so nasty..."

I think I'll write a book about my adventures in cyber-land and call it "Gullible's Travails"

I think it may frustrate Steve more to see polite debate than to see the "stupidity" he frets over, when he is so sure those "gullible souls" are taken in by "deliberately-false self-deprecation".

I posted before that pete is known PERSONALLY by two members here, both of whom took the time to assure us that Pete is an nice, honest guy who is totally sincere. I take their word for it, and I see it myself, even as I try to counter most of what Pete claims. I am able to keep "respectful boundaries" about (most) people even when I have serious problems with their opinions & beliefs.

"These navel-gazing meta-chats are lovely, aren't they, but what a bloody waste of time they are."

A waste of time? Oh...right.... like spending hours telling others they are stupid and others that they are spending too much time being gullible.

And they say there's no such thing as perpetual motion! :>)