Now you're just getting puzzling. I was never offended by what you. Whether the reference was to cults or trotskyists, I read it as an observation of facts about something where you wondered whether we should offer a defence. If I reject the "Mea Maxima Culpa" it's because there was no Culpa upon which to base an Act of Contrition. Nothing needed to be retracted.
This last bit seemed (to use Samuell Becket's term) like a piece of "aggressive masochism". To be sure, there are "cults :-P " whose members go araound with coarse hair shirts or with flails that they liberally apply to their own backs as they shout "Miserere nobis", but there are times when finding fault with oneself can be just as problematic as finding fault with others.
Ec
michael west wrote:
There was no way that I was trying to offend. If Mea Maxima Culpa doesnt help, I don't know what will. Cultish slurs exist against me you and anybody who edits. I am not saying that they exist elsewhere by critics of wikipedia. When I started the paragraph I said that it resembled a closed marxist-leninist-trotskyist-4I cabal than a cult.
I even retracted my statement on "count"
If I could strike them out from wkienmail I would.
I am truly sorry you were upset/grated teeth/kicked the sofa - I am sorry
And I am sorry to all who come after etc.... But please making wikipedia Better is actually making things work.
"Offended" is not the way I would describe my reaction. I have no doubt that these kinds of discussions are happening outside of WP, including on sites where slurs are more assuredly intended. It's part of the territory of being big. Arguiing with these people can be a tremendous waste of time.