I was contemplating a post addressing the rift that's beginning to creep through this corner of the blogosphere known as poker blogging. We seem to be anathema to some who are not poker blogging and even within our own ranks there has been discord and conflict. There have been some less than dignified responses to opinions and posts on all sides of the controversy du jour - however, I'm not going to address that, except to say it's natural. It's growing pains. It's seventh grade and the ninth graders are picking on us. It's insiders vs. outsiders. Geeks vs. Jocks. etc., etc., etc,. So that's all I'm going to say about that in particular.
What I do have something to say about is the notion that insulting, belittling and humiliating another person at the poker table is acceptable behavior. I don't find it acceptable. It's cheap and a player who uses it purposely as part of their arsenal is a low-life and not worthy of respect. There is a keen difference between thought and action. I may have a flash of seething anger at a particularly bad suck-out from a player and may scream at the screen "you fucking idiot!!!" but I will not take that to the keyboard and type "You XXXXing idiot!!" into the chat box. Instead, if anything, I will type something like "nh - that took courage to play those cards" - while reminding myself that I was once as naive as that particular player and still have a lot to learn myself.
That's all this nit has to say about that.
