[fox46]

Carolyn, you asked me in a private message 47 minutes prior the same thing.

I used the word "hate" because it is the antonym of "love" but perhaps "hate" was too strong a word. Reread my "thought experiment" without any emotion- take it right out of the equation. Replace "hate" with let's say- "do not love".

Without letting emotions take the wheel, what does your brain ask you when you read those two statements:

I love 2013.

I do not love 2013.

Ideally, based on the type of discussion the community seems to want on CD, I would hope that for either case you would wonder "why does one love or not love 2013?". But this is not the kind of response we see to these statements.

Without posing that question the two statements really have no value to any discussion here unless there is an implicit explanation due to the context in which they have been used.

So I would like to use Oblarg's response as an example of what I would like to see less of- that is the failure to ask the question and instead, jumping to: "Telling a team that you hate them is not graciously professional, and I hope you have the decency to never do so. That is not how we maintain a healthy community.".

Oblarg did not ask the question which *should* follow statements like these. He has no clue as to the context that I love or do not love 2013. Instead, he jumped on my back and accused me of not being GP, supposedly because my opinion did not agree with his.

Now, lets say you do ask the question. The following responses could completely change the perception of the statements and reverse the emotions involved. For EXAMPLE (#2 did NOT happen FYI)

I do not love 2013 because the maple toffee was harder than usual this year and pulled out my filling.

I love 2013 because they flipped another robot on purpose.
(Disclaimer: ***DID NOT HAPPEN***)

All of a sudden the two statements reverse their positive and negative connotations.


What I am getting at here is that everything that someone posts has been influenced by their own personal experiences. To go around slapping hands accusing people of "not being GP" when you either don't agree or don't understand them carries with it the same negativity you claim to be fighting. It doesn't further the discussion. Understand that there is usually a reason for a post on this forum. Even the ones which are extremely negative and not in the spirit of FIRST. Someone has had an experience to cause them to write such a thing and to tell them they're "wrong" does not help solve their problem, resolve the situation or further discussion on the topic.