Yep, there's probably something shameful in the way Paul conducts himself in most of his affairs, and certainly that carries out to his most personal affairs. he deserves no quarter and none shall be given him. His wife, on the other hand, probably deserves more quarter and hence I'm not going beyond saying that Paul's behavior, actions and interactions are unusual and unhealthy. You don't like that? Tough shit. If you want to know more about Paul and his relationships don't try to pry them out of me with a false sense of puriant disdain. It's his story and it's his to tell, and the fact that I mention that it exists isn't going to make it mine.

Oh that's right, you prefer brevity over clarity. I'm sorry if I offended you by favoring the latter.

"No"

No. But you said it wasn't a big deal to you and it obviously is, because you seem to need to clarify every single detail from your perspective. Splitting every possible hair to not only prove you're not, but trying to split every hair on every tangent and straw man argument that comes up. All while painting yourself as 'gracious,' and the victim of someone taking public, what was to you a highly personal conversation (what a bunch of crap).

Dude, you said wives were out of bounds, now you are on Paul about his wife. Split all the hairs you want. Or as you might put it, "I'm not the kind of guy to go around telling people what to do, BUT..."

I'm not sure if you're mistaken or dishonest here, but I prefer to think that it's the former.

The part where you're either mistaken or misrepresenting is where you state that I said "wives are out of bounds". What I had said was that I felt it was unsporting to slander his family members. I do hope that you can appreciate the difference, even in retrospect.

Also, while it's true that I'll clarify something when I think it's in error, it still isn't necessarily a big deal. It's a clarification. My replying to you is really no different than you replying to what I say with what's meant to be a "snotty" remark, except that I choose to actually make my meaning clear. Time spent is time spent, it's just that some of us value quality more than brevity.

IvanJim, I'm disappointed that you take the low road of silly insults in dealing with my criticism of you.

About Paul's wife: either you should have kept entirely silent on the matter, or revealed what you know. As it is, you allow all kinds of sleazy scenarios to run rampant in the reader's imagination-- and these scenarios can tend to besmirch Paul's wife.

That's not right, man, and you know it.

As for the rest...Paul's current job is irrelevant; and if he has reneged on any debt to credit-card companies, more power to him! And "reneging" does not fairly describe the voiding of debts through bankruptcy.

You must do as you see fit, of course, but it strikes me that the honorable and ethical thing to do is to back off on these matters.

Low indeed!

One could probably pull up a dozen such examples from Omar, one of the biggest "smarmy implication" scumbags in all of online comic fandom.

I'm sorry that you're disappointed, but I do think that your tone warranted the insult. It's a potential consequence of taking the tone of a moralist when you haven't yet earned the stature (certainly not in my eyes) to be a moral arbiter.

Since you continue to take the outraged tone of a moralist I'll try to take you a little more seriously and respond to some of your moral points;

"if he has reneged on any debt to credit-card companies, more power to him! And "reneging" does not fairly describe the voiding of debts through bankruptcy."

Not paying debts you've accrued by reckless spending (which Paul has admitted to) is indeed reneging. Be it by bankruptcy or simple deadbeatery, it's taking goods and services from others after agreeing to pay for them and then not doing so.

That you think it's a positive thing to renege on credit card debt shows either a lack of morality or a lack of understanding of how the debts eventually get paid. They get paid by other consumers who haven't reneged on their debts in the form of surcharges and higher interest payments. The only exception to this is when the reneged debt is to a vendor who can't afford to pass it on to other customers. That vendor has provided a service to the deadbeat and has suffered for providing it.

"As it is, you allow all kinds of sleazy scenarios to run rampant in the reader's imagination-- and these scenarios can tend to besmirch Paul's wife."

Regardless of what sleazy scenarios run through your mind, that's the workings of your mind and not that of anyone relating information that causes your mind to run on a tangent. The item in question refers to how Paul relates and related to others, not how others related to Paul. If you carry the analogy too far you'd have to say that Paul shouldn't even mention that he has a wife because you might assume that anyone who married Paul might have something wrong with them. Paul has every right to mention that he has a wife no matter what sleazy scenario might run through your brain because he does so.

"You must do as you see fit, of course, but it strikes me that the honorable and ethical thing to do is to back off on these matters."

Obviously it does strikes me differently. Paul has been anything but honorable and ethical on these boards but he consistently claims that one can't know anything about him from reading these boards. Therefore I feel it's appropriate, since he continues to whine frequently about how it's inappropriate to judge him from the time he spends on these boards, to request that he fill in the alleged blanks that he feels are so much more relevant in making a judgement about his character in order to either support or upend his denials.

So yes, I shall do as I see fit.

Indeed. The accuracy will be revealed AFTER you tell your "little tale". I've already given you complete permission to tell this "little tale" of yours (or the intrepid reporter's "little tale" YOU made mention of that started all this baloney), not that you ever really needed it in the first place.

Once again, you started, I'll finish.

See above.

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Your "credibility" is crumbling the longer you CHOOSE to procrastinate.

L! O! L!