Hating the messenger

[Ginger Tea]

You know the phrase about not blaming the messenger, well due to an outbreak of phishing emails targeting a specific website I frequent (they got hacked months ago and it seems emails were harvested), someone said they had not recieved any.

I thought this guy was living in Japan as one member did leave the UK for Japan, so what kind of phisher would send a UK bank email to a Japanese resident, UK residents were the sole targets so far so it wasn't just emails, perhaps later we will hear of german/french/etc bank's.
after posting my theory I check his profile and he's listed in the UK, more specifically Scunthorpe, a butt of many jokes, of which I chose not to make any.

Cue a guy who's known this other guy for ages who makes a quip about Scunthorpe.
up pops a name I've not seen in ages who's got an axe to grind over something or other (perhaps only in his head).
It made me think, if I had edited my post to add a Scunthorpe joke, guy would not have had a joke to make and guy2 would not have an angle to post from.

TL;DR
If someone you don't like posts about a subject are you more or less inclined to reply than if someone you like or are indiferant about posted the exact same thing?

[Andara Bledin]

While I often will have a purely emotional reaction to some posters, I try my best to respond as I would respond to anyone every time. I'm not always successful, but I do try my best to not let who posted influence my response to what was posted.

^-.-^

[HYHYBT]

Sorry, the only answer I can come up with is "it depends." I'm less likely to respond if I've already been through that subject with that person as far as I'm ever likely to get, but that's over firmly-set disagreements, not personal dislike. And I might react differently, depending; "I'm surprised you'd say that, considering..." etc. vs a more "there you go off on THAT again" approach. It does help in determining how to read a remark that might go more than one way. But I often don't even *notice* who has said what, only what they've said.

[aurelemsrealm]

As far as boards like this go, I tend to respond more to what is being said than to who is saying it. There are times when I formulate my response based on who posted a comment, but that's rare for me.

[Boozy]

I try not to look at the name of the poster when I read a post, so I can remain unbiased when I'm forming my opinion. Although many of you have very recognizable writing styles and pet causes, so it's not always easy.

If it's a problematic post (breaking the rules), then I do have to look at the poster. Someone's posting history has an effect on how the mods respond. First time offenders get off easy, since everyone makes mistakes sometimes. Repeat offenders who've been warned before get in more trouble.

Thankfully, we don't have any notoriously difficult members active here anymore, so it's been a non-issue now for quite some time.

[Rageaholic]

If someone you don't like posts about a subject are you more or less inclined to reply than if someone you like or are indiferant about posted the exact same thing?

I don't think it makes me more or less likely likely to respond, but it does affect how I'll respond. Despise what my SN would imply I try not to jump down someone's throat for saying something I don't agree with. But I did blow my top once when a poster made a somewhat assholish comment. The thing is, I had seen the posters responses in other threads and he was obviously trolling there so I assumed he was trolling here. Had I not noticed his previous trolling, I probably wouldn't have taken as much offense to it.

The same could be said in real life. After enough jerkassery from someone, I start to expect it, so when they pull their shit, I'm not as surprised as I would be if it was someone who is usually nice. Thus I'm more prepared for an appropriate responce.

[jackfaire]

Well naturally with people we like we tend to be more forgiving. For example a friend of yours has a bad habit say smoking and sneaks out to take more breaks to smoke your more willing to say, "Well gee they are addicted and I know how hard they have tried to quit I should be supportive"

VS the guy you hate or don't know doing it, "What the hell that bastard is off smoking again and I am having to pick up the slack??!?! He needs to stop messing around and just quit smoking already"

That being said someone that says something that offends me well if I like the person I am more likely to assume it was sarcasm or a joke than a person I dislike. A person to whom I am indifferent I will merely be confused.

How I respond however is more often based on my image of the person. If someone were to post something that fits the image of them I have in my mind then I probably won't have a largely negative reaction even if I WILDLY DISAGREE WITH THEM.

This is because while it might upset me it's to be expected from them. However if someone says something that alters or breaks my image of them in a drastic way then I will react almost angrily because I am upset with myself for interpreting them wrong and that may carry into my post.

The reaction though is very different.

If it is a person I like a lot because the image of them in mine is similar to my self image and I think of the person almost like a friend and they say something that I disagree with and it greatly offends me it feels emotionally like being betrayed by a friend.

If it is a person I dislike a lot though and think of as someone who has a different view of life than myself and they say something that I wholeheartedly agree with then I find myself at first ecstatic that they have "seen the light" (my side) but then confused because while they agree with me here I do know that this person disagrees with me on all of our previously discussed topics.

The first person is now not no longer a friend but rather a more nuanced in depth one.

The second person however may merely be a temporary ally only to fight against me on the next issue when our common enemy is in Arkham, or they may turn into a permanent ally another such friend who is merely nuanced with aspects that do not click with me.