"Wait, are you talking about ME?"

Reader-submitted question: Can we assume that when you post a really nasty reader-submitted complaint, it is your sarcastic way of responding to the last person who posted a comment?

What?

Uh, no. These things are real, although I usually edit them a bit. For example, a person might send me a ton of MSN messages arguing that I am an idiot. If I respond on the blog, I will summarize his or her main points rather than subjecting you to the whole thing. I also sometimes post things as reader-submitted complaints or questions if I want to respond to someone at length, even if he or she wasn't a jerk. Other times, a question or complaint will be the starting point for a post about something else. Most of them don't come in through the comments, and I usually sit on them for a while before I respond.

I have been keeping these anonymous, mostly because I sometimes combine similar questions/complaints. I also don't want to splash anyone's name around the Internet as a complainer, especially when I've only posted his message because he had something interesting to say. I don't post them to embarrass anyone; I post them because you guys are much more interesting than I am. This blog is better because you're here.

The Fuckwad Post was not my sarcastic way of responding to people who leave comments that slightly challenge my opinions. It was my slightly confused way of responding to someone who let loose on me with a string of fuckwad complaints over an extended period of time.

I actually like comments that disagree with me. The whole point of writing on the Internet is to exchange ideas. I might as well be writing in the newspaper if you're not going to write back. And when I post something as a complaint, it doesn't necessarily mean that I was personally offended by what you said. It usually means that you have challenged something about the blog, but didn't ask a question. It also means that I want to respond at length and that I thought all of my readers (all 4.39 million of them) would be interested in seeing what you wrote. It's a compliment, really, unless you're a fuckwad.