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I Owe DB an Apology!
By JLP | May 16, 2007
As if you guys couldn’t already tell, I’m quite passionate about personal finance. That passion really comes through when I talk about mortgages. Why? I don’t know. It just does. Anyway, the other day I posted a critique of a blog post that was referenced on Debt Blitzkrieg. By mentioning the fact that she liked the post in one sentence and then tearing into that same post in the next sentence, I left the impression that DB was stupid. That was not my intent at all.
To make ammends I edited the original post and took out the part about DB liking the post. I should have thought about the implications BEFORE I posted. I’m sorry about that.
I really want AllFinancialMatters to be a place where we can discuss topics in an educated manner without offending each other or taking offense. I’ll try to tame my usage of the word “stupid” or any other word that might be offensive. I’ll be the first to admit that I have a hard time with the “emotional” side of personal finance issues. In my opinion, allowing emotions to make decisions is like admitting defeat. In other words, I don’t believe a person can grow if they give in to their emotions. That argument sort of loses its luster when I get emotional about people being emotional. Confusing isn’t it?
My goal all along has been to lay out the information and let people decide for themselves which route is best for them. Hopefully I have accomplished some of that goal along the way.
Topics: Blogging | 12 Comments »
May 16th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Wow AFM, it takes a real man to apologize like that. I salute you !
May 16th, 2007 at 10:39 am
I think it’s rather big of you to apologize (especially for what would be commonly accepted practice elsewhere).
May 16th, 2007 at 11:30 am
We can all be a bit bull-headed when we disagree with someone. Kudos to you for the apology. I’ve edited my post that struck a similar chord. The PF blog community is great, and I’d hate for someone to feel that they can’t be a part of it without being made to seem stupid. Lesson learned here.
May 16th, 2007 at 11:46 am
Hope you get some good karma from this, and with the willingness to apologise and make amends for mistakes that you perceive, I think you’re certain to make this blog a place where civilised and entertaining discussion takes place.
May 16th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
Oh my goodness. JLP, you just went light years beyond what I expected in terms of clearing the air here. (For the curious, all I had asked was that JLP remove my ranting comments because I am ashamed of some of what I said.) Thank you.
Communication is a two-way street, and for anything JLP said, there are three components: what was actually said, what JLP thought he was saying, and what I heard. I have been telling myself that what was heard was not what was meant since the beginning, though hadn’t been successful at all in having my own civilized response.
Lets consider this water under the bridge.
DB
May 16th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Awwwww. Group hug!
Seriously, One reason I like your blog is that everyone is pretty civilized and courteous. A shame that all the blogosphere isn’t the same.
May 16th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
I’m either dense or alone here, but I didn’t see anything about your post (either the first time I read it or now) that I thought was inappropriate or overly critical. People have different viewpoints and if you don’t like what someone else writes then they can write their own views on their own blog (which is what you did).
It was nice of you to apologize though.
May 16th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Thank goodness THAT chapter’s been closed! No need for Kumbaya after all!
xoxo, Stacey
May 16th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
For what its worth, I didn’t see anything offensive in JLP’s posts either, but clearly DB was offended and/or just felt attacked and overwhelmed by the shear number and nature of the critical comments.
To JLP’s credit, rather than being self-righteous about it, he decided to err on the side of being empathetic – putting himself in somebody else’s shoes, somebody who’s threshhold for this kind of aggressive debate may not be the same as his (or mine for that matter).
As much as I don’t think he did anything wrong, I gotta respect that he cared enough to take some preemptive action anyhow.
@JLP – Dude, you are raising the blogging bar to impossibly high standards!
May 16th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
I think enough has been said on this topic — I actually would have preferred to keep this quietly between JLP and myself rather than have a public apology.
May 17th, 2007 at 6:36 am
The problem with the internet is it’s easy to say something stupid and a thousand people can witness it – it’s even better when you’re called out on a mistake and you own up to it (and even better when all parties involved decide that it was poor communication!)
Hopefully, JLP and DB, you’re the same in real life, because the real-world could use more people like this.
May 17th, 2007 at 9:33 am
If only the media in the US thought the same way!