Well, I've been rude at times maybe, but I don't think I've ever been any ruder on the Internet than I would face to face.

But it's important to remember that anything you post on an open thread here is public, in the same sense as it would be if you'd written it to a newspaper and had it published. And it stays on the record, in the Mudcat archives, and you can be faced with it, years later, and people are quite entitled to do so, or to quote your words anywhere they wish to.

I suppose that's why we have the GUESTS-without-handles.