if you’ve been following this, you’d be interested to know another intelligent blogger at my park bench, blogged about it, offering his advice to puny nimnuts-the troll. Background is here.

Scat Fights and the Art of Flaming and Trolling

The most notable part being:

I’m certainly not here to defend either Cao or SC&A, especially since they both did a fine job of riposting and parrying all the thrusts directed at them so far.

I also know nothing of this guy over at “The Aggressive Progressive” other than what I’ve read in this particular scat fight. But I do have some remarks of critique from a former flame warrior to a guy who would seem to be aspiring to the title.

• If you are going to start a war of words, remember your weapon. Insults are powerful only in the inverse relation to their ability to be rebutted. If your opening blow sounds like a repackaged homage to Morton Downey Jr., you’re walking into a fight you will ultimately lose nine times out of ten.
• I’m all about colorful epithets to describe people. Really. I think they’re funny. But if you are framing your attacks around epithetical gems like “assclown” as your piece de resistance, I think you’re going to get handed your hat in just about any heated verbal exchange.
• Lastly (and I cannot emphasize this one enough): if your profession is writing or editing, then it should be EXTREMELY apparent in every post, reply, comment and quip without you having to ever bring it up. If you feel the need to reiterate your credentials as a writer or editor in defending yourself in a war of words, or asserting your prowess in the written medium, then you will be virtually guaranteed to look like a guy with water wings trying to cross the English Channel. Imagine going to a cocktail party at Salman Rushdie’s house and having to start off every conversation by reciting your IQ and displaying your laminated Mensa membership card. Your efforts are only going to have the opposite results. The first rule of good writing is broken by mistakes like this. That rule being: show, don’t tell.

Language is a powerful and effective means to both start wars as well as end them. Be sure that if you are going to do either, you put enough thought and consideration into your words so you don’t look like a colorful epithet used as an example in my second bullet point.

Cao’s note: Hey–wise up, AP, the world is watching. And it looks like the agg is all over your ugly face. Poetic justice? I dunno. ’tis the season to be jolly, fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la. I think it’s called karma.

The moral of the story for AP is, you get what you put out into the world. You certainly don’t have the same level of wit that say-Frank of IMAO has (who stalks Glenn Reynolds and has a whole team of buddy stalkers of which I sometimes take part)-and Frank doesn’t publicly congratulate himself for his literary conquests or for losing elections. Think about it. I certainly don’t want to read about somebody stroking himself all the time. It’s disgusting.

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