Carl Hibbard wrote:KMcCarthy wrote:Taking your ball home Carl ? My first post in ages and that was hardly the rattlesnakes response to my impression of a mongoose

Sorry I was referring to the general tone of this one - not you!
With respect, it was an indirect personal attack upon me. Probably made after a visit to the pub, at least one hopes that this was not Mr McCarthy's considered view.
This will be my last post in this thread.
Understanding what someone is trying to communicate is very important, this is achieved by adhering to certain norms. Failure to do so can make life very difficult; for instance, I have trouble differentiating between a "3", "6", "8" and "9" because of my eyesight; there are many letters, for instance "m" and "n" that cause me difficulties, too. Parsing Ben's posts is very difficult, even in the rare case that what he writes makes any sense at all. I invite Mr McCarthy to try and read a post in which the letters are moving, vanishing, shrinking and getting bigger, in no particular order. To anticipate a probable response; I do not use a text reader as my doctors have advised me to use my eyes as much as possible. The only alternative is to accept Gresham's law, and withdraw: I certainly won't miss Mr McCarthy's posts; presumably he won't miss mine either.
To suggest that asking someone to, at least, try before posting is not unreasonable, it is certainly not snobbish. Contrary to what Mr McCarthy may believe, and who knows what lies behind his effusions, no-one has attacked Ben for his contributions to chess organisation, he has been applauded for it. I have spent tens of thousands of pounds of my own money on chess organisation; I can only recall three occasions on which expenses were claimed; one was for rail tickets because, on the day of the match, a match in which I had had no role in organising, I was presented with the fait accompli of several players having no money on them: I was going to let it go, however, the club chairman put in a claim on my behalf.
Mr McCarthy considers my behaviour "shameful", probably because he misread my rebuke of Stewart. I have considerable respect for Stewart's organisational abilities: nonetheless, his second post only encouraged Ben in his delusions that what he writes is at an acceptable standard; Stewart should have known better.
As for the vitriol, Mr McCarthy should look in the mirror, this will enable him to hone his superior social skills before his next trip to the pub.