Feivel, I’m not sure why my post touched such a raw nerve. It was not my intention to get you so riled up, but simply to point something out in the context of the conversation which I felt was an important point. I did not mean to imply in the slightest that this is a formal debate, or that only comments of which I approve and are directly related to the OP should be allowed.
I am not sure why you chose to make it personal.
I, for one, have never told anyone what they should or should not post in this or any forum.
This is because I am interested in a discussion, not the obfuscation and distraction techniques of debaters. Regardless of a person’s interest, his use (intentional or otherwise) of these tactics, in my opinion (which is not binding on anyone, but no less deserving than yours to be heard) detracts from the conversation. To my mind, this is not a bunch of people shmoozing at the water cooler; it is a focused discussion of a particular subject.
Not all peripherally related comments are appropriate. If a poster were, in the context of this conversation, to launch into a scholarly conversation of the etymology of the phrase “tongue in cheek”, would you think that to be appropriate for the discussion?