I think there are two problems here, Red. The first is that (and you can correct me if I'm wrong, this is just what I've gleaned over the last six months or so) you are demanding respect from this community, and I don't believe that respect is something that can be demanded from anyone. Respect, especially in a community like this, must be earned, and you simply haven't acted in a manner that earns respect. To earn respect, one must act respectfully, and topics like this, among numerous other examples, do not convey respectfulness. Let me put it this way: if I had to take a guess, I'd say the top reason you don't respect me as a member is because I don't act respectfully towards you (or, if it's not the top reason, it's certainly up there). That has essentially launched us into a vicious cycle of disrespect that has not reflected well upon either of us. Thus, I want to sincerely apologize to you in front of God and everyone for being a disrespectful jerk to you, and I promise to do my absolute best to display more respect to you in the future, should you decide to remain a part of this community.
The second problem is that you take any and all criticisms of yourself and your post habits personally. I daresay that over the last six months I've taken as much flak as anyone for being a frankly unlikeable member, and that's something I deeply regret. I have, in recent weeks, attempted to improve both my attitude and my posting habits, and it's something I'm still working on, so if it hasn't been noticeable, I pray that it will become noticeable soon. Now admittedly 90% of the forum that you were primarily referring to me (among a handful of others) in the group of "NE Jerks," but Ring Wraith named me as a member that comes off as arrogant. I admit that that is a hard blow to take, especially since I'm insecure to begin with, but I simply don't see the point in getting angry over it. RW certainly didn't mean any harm of it, he was simply making a point, and I took something out of it for myself, which is simply extra motivation to become a member of this community and a better person in general.
Take this as you will. I mean this post as a peace offering, if you choose not to take it, I won't begrudge you for it. I've undergone a lot of criticism over the last two months, and the temptation to simply leave (especially since I don't own any cards anymore) has been rather overwhelming, especially as of late, but thus far, I've chosen to stick around and try to improve myself rather than take the easy way out. I hope you will choose to stick it out through the new rules and members who don't treat you respectfully and see if you can't improve yourself a little bit on the way as well.
