For a member who has been here a very long time, I would have thought he'd know how to make his points while maintaining some level of decorum and respect for individual members—unless, of course, those members are trolls or clearly acting in bad faith. Even though I understand where
@by78's core argument comes from—related to technical/tactical training expertise (or lack thereof) and his perception of PAP soldiers appearing undisciplined—he really should convey his message with a level of respect befitting his standing on this forum.
Those who want respect, show respect. I interact with
@QIUSIYU in a manner he fully deserves. He thinks he's special and basic etiquette and rules don't apply to him. I tried to nudge him politely on multiple occasions on various issues, but he carried on either without so much as an acknowledgment or as if he's too good for polite advice. The whole brouhaha over his hot-linking images is a perfect example. I asked him politely to stop hot-linking images and instead use a photo hosting service or directly upload images to the forum server. He replied with an insult that I obviously was too stupid to know that the forum software sets a limit on upload size. I then suggested he could compress the image to a smaller size. He then tried to justify by saying that he had wanted to share the full resolution version, to which I again pointed out that he still had the option of photo hosting services such as Imgur or Flickr, which allow for larger file sizes; and I again explained to him that hot-linking is considered poor etiquette and forbidden by forum rules. He then denied that there is such a rule against hot-linking. I then gave him a verbatim quote of the rule against hot linking. He then said I interpreted/read the rule wrong. I then furnished him with prior examples of unambiguous enforcement of the said rule. He then had the gall to tell me that the rule is "unreasonable", and that he didn't feel what he did was wrong, and furthermore, since the moderators haven't warned him about it, it's perfectly OK for him to carry on as before.
I mean, if you're looking for a textbook example of a sociopath, this is it. A sociopath is never wrong, and so long as he's not caught, whatever he does is automatically correct. In other words, by his sociopathic logic, it's not wrong to steal or murder as long as the crime is not discovered and/or he's not reprimanded for it. Morality, laws, empathy, decency, and consideration for others are all alien concepts to him, which is precisely why I treat him the way I do: no respect given, no respect returned. Absolute reciprocity is a proven way to deal with sociopaths.
