Originally Posted by daboy (Post 1140402)

What do you mean by that? You didn't vote on the issue? If so, wouldn't that make you an ironic representative of anti swiss rhetoric? If you meant that you voted against the measure then good for you, even though existing zoning laws give enough discretion for the government to systematically shoot down any new proposed minarets anyway (making the referendum pointless, damaging, and unnecessarily embarrassing for the Swiss).

Originally Posted by MathNut (Post 1140413)

Well, can't help you there - but it is joking. I'd have put money (would still put money) that every single one of the remarks CHexo quoted was intended to raise a smile, not to be taken completely seriously. I should know because I'm married to someone whose sense of humor is quite similar and who frequently indulges in similar jokes. Repetition proves nothing either. I have been called a 'half-savage colonial' (almost) more times than I can count - solemnly, without so much as a twinkle in the eye, but as a joke nonetheless. (Of course I wouldn't expect an acknowledgment of that, ever, as it would give away the joke. It's true all the same.)

Perhaps you don't find them at all funny (note that I'm NOT saying you don't have a sense of humor - I know better! - just that yours is different) and that's fair enough - not every joke reaches every audience - but to claim that because something isn't funny to you it CANNOT BE A JOKE is a bit... hasty, isn't it?

Originally Posted by mimi1981 (Post 1140378)

Hey Kittster,

I like your posts and understand you are answering a question that DB has posted but I do wonder if personal issues with mods or other members should be posted publicly. I feel this would be better handled offline and maybe addressed to another mod and EditorBob if you want to take this further. None of us are in posession of all the facts except those involved directly and I think having it open on EF as a thread is just asking for bad feelings to generate.

I also think Economisto should not be posting personally about you or any other member. Naming names and public arguments are going to quickly get out of hand. Mods, don't you think it is time to stop this now, close this thread and monitor for anymore that appear?

Who knows, maybe i'm wrong :confused:

Originally Posted by economisto (Post 1140426)

All too true. However (while admitting nothing), if opinion based commentary is never truly objective or neutral, it must be either positive or negative. Arriving at a negative conclusion after analysis is a basic freedom. Not that that's (necessarily) what I've done or anything...

Originally Posted by Phos (Post 1140435)

And as for Kittster and Economisto. Perhaps you both have more in common than you might think. Go on a date. Perhaps you were made for each other.

Originally Posted by economisto (Post 1140419)

I am truly sorry if I offended Kittster or anyone else. That was not my intention. I apologise. Offence is never good. However acerbic cultural commentary of a very similar level to anything I write happens in all public media both in Switzerland and around the world. It too offends many people. One can only look at the perfectly legal SVP posters to know how far one may go in this fine and liberal country without being in breach of the law.

In summary I would like to say three things:

1. I never meant to cause offence.
2. It will happen again.
3. If you're looking to go through the courts, all I can say is bring it.

Originally Posted by MathNut (Post 1140413)

Repetition proves nothing either. I have been called a 'half-savage colonial' (almost) more times than I can count - solemnly, without so much as a twinkle in the eye, but as a joke nonetheless. (Of course I wouldn't expect an acknowledgment of that, ever, as it would give away the joke. It's true all the same.)