QUOTE: ...a long history of interacting on the internet

You make it sound so tawdry, Mike.

I've posted casually on Byrne's board going back maybe a year or two into the days of the Magnus board. I've agreed with his points quite often, even if I don't always post to say, "Right on," and argued vehemently on a few issues with which I disagree with him. Personally, I don't think I've crossed the line into "damn the facts, damn common sense" territory, but if the host of the board thinks I have (and yeah, I recognize that he didn't call me out specifically in this thread)...hey, it's his world, I just find enough to enjoy here to keep posting in it.

That said, I've never thought of myself as having any "history" with JB. I'm a poster on his board who disagrees with him sometimes. "History" makes it all sound so melodramatic, and as I near a thousand posts, I want to say you could probably look back through 'em all and you'd find only disagreements - not the "troublemaking" you seem to be implying but tiptoeing around.

Well, that's fair, too, Dave, but it's not like you're a stranger, and it's not like you've never disagreed with him.

I guess the way I see it is that it wasn't worth all the "outrage" when he said it to you - it was a shrug inducing incident at best.  There are other people, even regulars here, where it would be a more odious crime, but it was, at best, a "meh" moment.

But that's easy for me to say - I'm not the guy he called an asshole... so, let's put the shoe on the other foot - since you, like me, have been around going back to at least the Magnus board days, I think we can agree that there are things that Byrne is pretty clear on, and it's pretty clear what he likes, doesn't like, etc.

Thus, you have the complete fredom to bring up said topics (one notes, despite rumors to the contrary, you are not banned, and you are allowed to think differently), but you are also expected to face the consequences of your actions.

Which, in this case, was that you were called an asshole.  

I keep coming back to this in most discussions about Byrne's on-line behavior, but... let's say I know you don't like eating meat.  Let's say you invite me over to your house.  Let's say I start going on and on about how savory meat is.  Let's say we've had this song and dance before....

Can you look me in the eye and say that you'd smile, hug me, shake my hand, buy me a car, fall to your knees and fellate me?

No, I'd pretty much be expecting to be called an asshole at that point.

I'm not saying you're an asshole, Dave.  I've always gotten along with you... but you're certainly not some innocent victim here.

I often wonder where the outrage is when our own Joe Zhang is called an asshole all over the internet, including on this very board.  I also wonder why, when charges of racism are tossed at Byrne, people "forget" the infamous con flyer that went around whereby the "artist" used some radom Asian guy as Joe.  Our Joe Zhang didn't even rate a real face.  He's just some Asian guy. 

The hypocracy of Byrne's detractors is sickening.

smell roses in spain, you lover

QUOTE: ...but likewise, are you concerned with the fact that you've been made a martyr all over the interweb?

I have to confess: I'm mostly just bemused. Seems like it's the best way for my brain to process the surreality of my name being splashed over message boards everywhere alongside a dismissal from one of the creators most responsible for me getting into comics.

Are the quotes being taken out of context? Yeah, a bit, but you'll have to forgive me if I don't rush out to try to put out the brushfires that erupted when I was called an asshole! It just seems a bit much to expect, y'know? Just 'cause I wasn't particularly mortified by it doesn't mean I see myself as a frontline fighter in defending it.

Honestly, I try to avoid internet drama, so my role in this strange, mildy amusing internet meme is to ignore it and let it pass into last week's news.

"I don't call people idiots or assholes until they have given their absolute best effort to proving the appelation to be accurate."

I didn't say that you didn't.  I don't doubt that you have seen every instance as being justified.  My point was that the casual reader probably won't see it that way. 

I like a good argument as much as the next person, and I understand how tempers can flare, and things can be said that are uncalled for. But if you can look at some of your posts objectively, as someone without an awareness of any history between you and the other poster, and tell me that you don't come off as a bit harsh, than I honestly don't know what else to say.