Futile Rant #5: No Offense
Okay, boys and girls, gather 'round for a quick lesson from your Uncle Mori.

Adding "No offense, but..." to the beginning of a communication does not magically make the content inoffensive and constructive. I'm absolutely flabbergasted that I must explain this to some people in SL, a world supposedly populated by legal adults. Alas, it appears to be necessary. I've just received my umpteenth message (this time, a comment left on the Garage's answering machine) prepended with this little wonder phrase. "No offense, but this game sucks."

Children- and I am referring to those who think this kind of thing is acceptable, and therefore couldn't possibly qualify as rational adults- this is just not going to cut it. If you don't want to give offense, don't be offensive. And if you're going to be insulting, at least cowboy up and have the cajones to do it without the mealy-mouthed qualifiers. You're quite old enough to realize what is insulting and what isn't. You wouldn't have stuck on the little preface "No offense..." if you didn't suspect you were likely, nay guaranteed, to cause offense. That's just basic logic.

What's particularly galling here is that the GoD's answering machine is intended for beta testing comments. And that was the sole and entire transcript of the commentary. Some twerp, whose name was immediately forgotten for both our sakes, took the time to find the machine, activate it, and leave a message. "No offense, but this game sucks." What possible purpose could that serve, aside from providing further proof of the GIFT, as well as evidence of the originator's own status as a complete asshole? Perhaps you could take a few more seconds and, oh, I don't know, tell me why the game "sucks?" Not that anyone thoughtless enough to start a communique with such a declaration would have anything even remotely useful to say, but it would at least justify wasting both of our time.

Don't get me wrong. I welcome constructive criticism, whether it be on the Garage of DOOM or on any other project I've built in SL. All I ask is that people who do so be minimally cordial, and that they make the modest time investment required to support their critique. "This sucks!" in isolation is not useful. It's a null statement, when given in absence of further context. A complete waste of time and effort, not worth the electrons used to transmit it. And "No offense, but..." only adds insult to injury.

Or, to summarize: No offense, but screw you and the horse you rode in on. If you don't have anything useful to say, and can't say it in a polite manner, I have zero interest in hearing from you.

Ah, I feel better now. Thank you, and we now return you to your regularly scheduled web browsing.
Posted by Moriash Moreau at 10:34 AM