Must there? I dunno mate? Is that asking "Will Ricky always say silly shit that begs a ribbing or insult?" If that is what you are asking then, probably yes. I do not respond to everything he says. In fact I have been known to agree or plus him on occasion. Can't ask for fairer than that. I do think I have been a lot more severe on others in the past.
Yes, I would agree.
But I'm not singling you out, I'm observing a behaviour and asking if that behaviour should be the norm.
McJ pointed out (later in this thread) that it's getting harder to defend him. Maybe. But reading yesterday's posts, I realised that while it may be getting harder (he isn't silent, exactly), he is the one to be made the target, not, for example, DFG who was just as reactive as he was and took every opportunity just as he did.
And this is not to attack DFG, btw. Again, it's observing a behaviour.
As for being above that sort of thing, I judge each thread and each post in a thread by its own. some I will respond to and some not. Some to agree and some to condemn. Some to expand on or do a silly rejoinder to. At the end of it all I honestly do not know how others post on here? What interests them in a thread or a post? What drive them to respond and in what way? I am likely to see the same sort of value in posts as I always have and respond as I always have for the same reasons. If something makes no sense i will generally say it doesn't and why. If something is shitty I will call it. If something is representing a value system completely misaligned to mine, I will call it. If something is funny I will laugh at or with it.
So here's a question for you: looking at yesterday's posts, why Richard and not DFG?
In all of this, you would probably not see anything wrong with in general terms (people reacting naturally and honestly on posts is all good) and that it is logical and rational to do so. But in this instance and with Ricky, you find a problem. You see it as a problem that I ought to rise above.
I think we need to define the problem and why in fact it is problem in the first place.
But they react differently. Well, to me it certainly looks like it and no one has denied it yet, and I am asking why that may be. Is it a problem? I don't know. Is it an anomaly? Yes, and as such it's worth looking at. Most of us are spazzes and know from experience what it is like to be treated as the odd one out (and that's a mild way to put it). Why do we repeat that behaviour here?
A number of reasons.
Firstly I like DFG. I don't like Ricky. Not saying I particularly dislike Ricky. I do dislike a number of those names on that list but Ricky I do not particularly dislike. But I do like DFG.
Secondly, Ricky has a bit of a history of this and other things said and done that i guess mean my tolerance with him is not that high.
Do not have that with DFG.
You know that i will go anyone here depending on how strongly I object to their position. If what she says or does really rankles me, I will have a go. A few members here recently i have really disagreed with and had a go at though they are not people i previously had any real issue with.
Thirdly, I did not see who started the fight with Ricky and DFG but I came into things with him hammering away at her textually and her deflecting.
Fourthly, Ricky is a bit of a known. I can fall into a set em up and knock em down routine pretty easily. I do not know DFG that well. For easy laughs or passing time, throwing in the odd comeback is pretty easy, but with DFG it would require more effort
Fifthly......nah I think I am done.
As for you not singling me out, I know mate. I am just giving you my perspective as it affects me. I am not part of a concerted "pick on Ricky " collective (and if there was one, I would not join) and so I dunno what others reasons are. I can't answer for them. I can only answer for me. I think my reasons are fairly reasonable. Though they may be fickle or not nice or whatever, they are honest.