Be honest, now

[clehrich]

Okay, you can log out and answer this if you like, but Ron's so plastered by this point that he won't remember a thing.

Admit it, have you ever:

1. Posted simply to get your number of posts up

2. Posted deliberate flame-bait

3. Posted a genuine troll, by which in this context anyway I mean something like, "Gee, I'm so confused about X, could somebody help me out?" when you aren't confused at all and want others to pig-pile on somebody you're mad at (such as your current GM or players)

4. Engaged in deliberate acts of conversational malice, such as

rank-pulling

[I know more than you do because I have a degree in X or a black belt in Y]
ground-shifting [you're attacking me on X, but actually I was saying Y, ha ha][/list:u]I'll go first, and I'm not even withdrawing my name!

1. Yes, a couple times about 9-10 months ago.  Then felt ashamed.
2. No.
3. Yes, again about 10 months ago.  Didn't work.
4. I don't think so.

Anyone else?  Come on, you can tell us.

Besides, I think Ron's passed out behind the couch now, in the pile of Doritos.

[Ben Lehman]

1) Outside of tonight, no.

2) *scratches chin*  I tend to have an adversarial style of writing, and I think I may have, at times, exaggerated that style with the goal of provoking people into response.  I don't know if this counts as flame-bait or just a rhetorical technique.

3) No.  Well, I have said that sentence (no, I don't mean X, I mean Y) many times but I think it was mostly my original intent.

4) Pulling rank:  I have mentioned martial arts experience on the Riddle of Steel forum, which barely counts since so many people there "outrank" me.  I was a grammar nazi in the Orbit forum.  I think physics may have come up a couple of times, which I will rabidly pull rank about at the earliest opportunity.

And, yes, confessions in public.

yrs--
--Ben

[Shreyas Sampat]

I think I've pulled a reverse ground-shift sometime long ago (you were defending X, but I was attacking Y), but I don't recall whether it was malicious or simply irrationally defensive. I'm not actually sure it was here.

I've consciously posted things that I think are inflammatory, but never for the purpose of sparking controversy...only when I think my point is worth the damage I'm afraid it will cause.

On other forums, I don't police my activity so carefully; I'm not sure whether this is a testament to my regard for the Forge community, or an indication of some personal failing.

[clehrich]

Being aggressive doesn't count as flame-bait.  Hell, if that counted, could I have written "no, I haven't baited flame intentionally"?  Flame-baiting is flame-baiting, as in trying to provoke somebody else into responding irrationally and violently.  I'm surprised nobody's done this deliberately, as it certainly seems like it would work around here if you were subtle: if you can seem reasonable and get the other guy to act like a maniac, Ron might well slam down on the other guy.  Come to think of it, why haven't I done that?  That's odd.

Let me add a fifth:

5. Moderator-baiting [by PM or in a thread]

Which I admit I have done, though not in a while.  Good thing Ron's snoring in the Doritos, yes?

[Sean]

I haven't done any of these on the Forge, although sometimes (mostly under my old Calithena ID) my posts draw such sharp reactions that I think I must be doing 2 and/or 3 unwittingly.

I've done all five on other boards though.

[C. Edwards]

1. No. I feel like I'm riding a tricycle on an eight lane superhighway.
2. Yes. When my bullshit detector goes off I get mouthy.
3. No. See number two.
4. No. As far as I can remember anyway.

-Chris

[Jason Lee]

No on 1-3, except for in the Birthday forums, then guilty as charged.

As for number 4, no, except for my permanently engaged superior attitude.

The Little Woman says, "You're not always right, you know."
I say, "Like hell I'm not."

As for number 5, I think I just mod-baited a couple weeks ago via PM.  Well, maybe not.  I was going to get all mean and angry, but there didn't turn out to be a need to.

[Bill Cook]

1 - 5: No.  But they're great ideas, and I plan to start using them;)

[ethan_greer]

Guilty of 4, in my early days, when I posted as Silkworm.  What a little shithead I could be...

[Jonathan Walton]

I often try to wave the "I know more than you" creditials around on some subjects: mostly China, aesthetics, Nobilis, PBeM, religion, and the like.  I don't think I'm guilty of most of the others.  However, I do have the weird ability to butt heads with Ron over seemingly innoculous statements and exist in a state of continual misunderstanding with him for quite some time, until we finally resolve it.  Odd.

[talysman]

I have to say "no" on all these, with the following qualifications:

1. I've done the inverse: I worry about posting too much, so I cut my output.

4. no, but I'm naturally arrogant and I think people can detect this telepathically. but see #3...

3. no, except for the troll thread in last year's birthday forum, where I *had* to post a troll because I thought people needed to see How It's Really Done. so I guess that counts as "pulling rank" under #4.

[Alan]

No to all, I'm afraid.  I might have pulled rank unconsciously, but never intentionally.

[brainwipe]

Guilty of all.

[Marhault]

I've never done any of them on the Forge.  Until now, it seems.  Put me down for a #1 special.

[Nick the Nevermet]

I don't remember a specific instance, but I'm sure I've done 3 and 4.  They sound like things I would do.

My main guilty admission, though, is how I'm hesitant I am to post.  I've proven myself horrible unreliable, and at least twice have offered to do things for one of the games here that I later had to back out of.  Feeling like a jerk, I've gone to near total lurk.  My reasoning is that if I have a tendency to bite off more than I can chew, than I shouldn't open my mouth.