How should we react to posts?

[nitneylion452]

Was the response by the community a good one? No. Was the topic sensitive? Yes. Did the OP apologize and try to reformulate his question/argument in a non offensive way after seeing that s/he offended some people? No. And that's where the issue lies in my mind. Sometimes we say things in a way that isn't the best to convey our true feelings or intent. When we do that and people respond in a way that shows they are offended, we should step back, apologize for the original comment, state our true intent, and reformulate our thoughts. The OP didn't do that in this case.

Granted, the response by the community as a whole was not good as far as what was public, but I think negative rep is a good way to tell a poster that he's crossed a line. It's there for that reason, so we should use it. Yes, it's a shame that the poster has such bad rep at the moment, but I think had he done what I described above, his rep may have increased or at least stayed the same as he would have admitted to a mistake and taken the high road in this case.

In conclusion, this thread was just bad all around. Neither side is really right or took the moral high ground. I do, however, agree with Corey's comments in locking the thread. If you say something that you will regret in the real world, nobody will be there to delete it. The same should hold true in this instance.