Call to Truce

Can't we all just get along?

Just recently, I gave the last post another look. OK, it felt real nice to vent, and I still believe my position is correct - but how much good will that do? Not only do I hate nitpicking, I hate brute negativity; it's purely destructive, it tears down without building up.

Which got me thinking: when you feel bad about something, it's because things aren't the way you'd like them to be. There's widespread poverty; the Iraq war should never have happened; your job stinks; the cat peed on my bed. We wanted none of these things, yet there they are. Now we have a choice to make: change circumstances for the better, change your view of the circumstances...or just suffer, you shiftless bastard, suffer!

I decided that I wanted to see Encarta do a better job. Generally they are fine, which is why they enjoy the high reputation; when things go wrong, though, it's better to point it out and ask them to try again. Encarta does not deserve to be reviled like I did. So I filled out the "Feedback" form, and am now waiting for a response of some kind.

The reason I'm airing all this is so that I'm not mistaken - and have a clean conscience. I'm not bitter (I hope), nor do I want to be regarded as such. And I don't want to make a habit of smack-downs. That achieves nothing. Anger breeds anger, the coals glow red under the ashes. I don't want to apologize for the content of my post, though I do regret its form. At the same time, I don't feel obliged to eat my words - which is what I'd do if I softened or deleted them. This is something I feel strongly about, hence the strong response.

So what I proposed is this: reconsider the quiz, and I'll reconsider my post. If they pull the quiz, I'll pull my post. If the quiz stands, the post stands. I figured that's fair; let's see what happens...