vladimir wrote:And LTO, as a private business owner, you may be biased.

If my opinion is to be called into question, not for what I say but for who I am, then there is really no point in joining the discussion, in so far as the sort of chatter that includes ad hominems, equivocation and such can be called a 'discussion.'

It's up to you, my friends often pull me up when they think I may be off track or my beliefs may be prejudicing me. if you think that you are above being checked, well that speaks for itself. I was merely reminding you not to let that interfere with your posts, tbh I did question your motives in joining the 'defend the flag at all costs' stance on that place in the two destitute guys thread, (which you then followed over here), I'm still puzzled, sorry if I was honest enough to say so.

To be fair, I wouldn't have checked you a year ago, but times and people change, yes?

vladimir wrote:It's up to you, my friends often pull me up when they think I may be off track or my beliefs may be prejudicing me. if you think that you are above being checked, well that speaks for itself. I was merely reminding you not to let that interfere with your posts, tbh I did question your motives in joining the 'defend the flag at all costs' stance on that place in the two destitute guys thread, (which you then followed over here), I'm still puzzled, sorry if I was honest enough to say so.

To be fair, I wouldn't have checked you a year ago, but times and people change, yes?

Really? I don't recall ever mentioning my work here or anywhere on line. Are you sure this isn't your way of revealing people's personal information on line in order to threaten them to stay away from discussions in which you feel weak, or perhaps to get back at them for holding opinions different than yours?

It'll be interesting to see how the mods at CEO deal with people who post the personal information of others.

Dude, seriously? What have I revealed? Keep on topic, please. I asked for a discussion, I mentioned you may be biased and I said why. Damn, you've been 'over there' for too long, seriously.I'm not talking about your business, any idiot can Google, and tbh, you post links to your blog, it's not rocket science. But that's not the point, and you know it.

The point is let's have an unbiased discussion, with no threats, either perceived ones or the ones like you make above,

'it'll be interesting to see how the mods at CEO...' Jeez, calm down.

Hey, where were you when people were being treated unfairly by mods over there? Nowhere. So please, let's keep it on topic, OK?

In fact, someone I know asked about your ID a few days ago out of curiosity, and I refused to tell him. He took it personally It nearly caused an argument, but I refused. I can ask him to verify that and PM you if you need proof, there were several people present, so there are witnesses. If you actually think it's outing, I'll remove it, but I think you're being paranoid.

Any other input?

yes, I would be very interested to see an academic discussion taking place on this thread. Let bygones be bygones for the sake of a good discussion with lack of flaming.

LTO wrote:

vladimir wrote:It's up to you, my friends often pull me up when they think I may be off track or my beliefs may be prejudicing me. if you think that you are above being checked, well that speaks for itself. I was merely reminding you not to let that interfere with your posts, tbh I did question your motives in joining the 'defend the flag at all costs' stance on that place in the two destitute guys thread, (which you then followed over here), I'm still puzzled, sorry if I was honest enough to say so.

To be fair, I wouldn't have checked you a year ago, but times and people change, yes?

Really? I don't recall ever mentioning my work here or anywhere on line. Are you sure this isn't your way of revealing people's personal information on line in order to threaten them to stay away from discussions in which you feel weak, or perhaps to get back at them for holding opinions different than yours?

It'll be interesting to see how the mods at CEO deal with people who post the personal information of others.

Isn't that a little too harsh a riposte. He is just trying to get a serious discussion going. Give him a break. I know he has a bad rep on the other board. Let's try and be civil here; not that I am saying you are not, LTO. Let's see where this thread goes. It's one of my favorite discussions and I will weigh in a little later when I have more time. It doesn't matter whether someone is not addressing all the right points in depth, but that will eventually lead to a more fruitful discussion or even debate. TBC.

rubberbaron wrote:

LTO wrote:

vladimir wrote:It's up to you, my friends often pull me up when they think I may be  off track or my beliefs may be prejudicing me. if you think that you are above being checked, well that speaks for itself. I was merely reminding you not to let that interfere with your posts, tbh I did question your motives in joining the 'defend the flag at all costs' stance on that place in the two destitute guys thread, (which you then followed over here), I'm still puzzled, sorry if I was honest enough to say so.

To be fair, I wouldn't have checked you a year ago, but times and people change, yes?

Really? I don't recall ever mentioning my work here or anywhere on line. Are you sure this isn't your way of revealing people's personal information on line in order to threaten them to stay away from discussions in which you feel weak, or perhaps to get back at them for holding opinions different than yours?

It'll be interesting to see how the mods at CEO deal with people who post the personal information of others.

Isn't that a little too harsh a riposte. He is just trying to get a serious discussion going. Give him a break. I know he has a bad rep on the other  board. Let's try and be civil here; not that I am saying you are not, LTO. Let's see where this thread goes. It's one of my favorite discussions and I will weigh in a little later when I have more time. It doesn't matter whether someone is not addressing all the right points in depth, but that will eventually lead to a more fruitful discussion or even debate. TBC.

A little too harsh? Perhaps...perhaps. I don't care about vlad and the other forum. Never watched soaps. And as far as serious discussion goes in this thread, I don't have much hope. I have a thought or two about Marxist philosophy too, but I made one response, a fairly innocuous one not even addressing Marxism yet, but just about a matter of defintion, and it drew an ad hominem response. Little promise of a reasoned discussion in a start like that. That aside, where I take umbrage is not at adolescent debate techniques but in the posting of personal information. Not a particularly deep secret, but a line crossed nevertheless. Yet after consideration and some talk, I now feel that the intention there likely wasn't ill, and it may have even been inadvertant. Vlad has always been straight with me before, and I have faith that remains the same. My hope is that this was slip up and a misunderstanding, now passed.

vladimir wrote:SC and LTO: No, I didn't preload. I specifically said if you look at the results. SC, would you say the world is mostly good? I doubt it.

Nope, I would not. I would say the world is mostly flawed. But that doesn't change my (and LTO's) earlier point...

forget about the perceived insults...

Pointing out a weakness in your debating style does not give evidence of any perception of bias or insult.

SC, you may remember this one Christian dude Jesus, who said that the love of money is the root of all evil. Now, who loves money more, communists or capitalists? It's not a trick question, btw.

I'm surprised the resident atheist-scholars didn't pick you up on this, but Jesus was a Jew, not a Christian.

But to respond, I suspect communists and capitalists love money equally - perhaps the question should be which is happier or feels that life is more satisfying.

LTO wrote:Vlad has always been straight with me before, and I have faith that remains the same. My hope is that this was slip up and a misunderstanding, now passed.

He's certainly much less of a dick on CEO!