"for What It's Worth ..."

Recently, a BZPer posted a topic insisting I had been rude to him in my answer to his PM. He had asked a question for which I did not have what I felt was a good or complete answer, so I appended, "for what it's worth to you" to the end of the answer -- since I had no way of knowing if the little bit of info I was giving would answer his question. He somehow decided that meant I thought his question was worthless or stupid, which was not the case. (If I HAD thought that, I simply wouldn't have bothered to answer at all.) As I think most of you know, "for what it's worth to you" simply means, "I don't know if this will any help to you or not, you have to decide that."

I have since explained this to him, but he seems determined to remain offended, and there is nothing I can do about that. But I thought it brought up a larger issue.

Yes, I answer a lot of PMs here, when I don't have to -- but that also means I am not FORCED to. So while sometimes my answers are curt -- even a lot of times -- I don't try to be rude and I don't intend to be. You guys are fans, and because of that, you need to be treated with respect. For some people, getting just a "yes" or "no" may seem harsh or rude, but that comes from the fact that if I take time to write long answers to everyone, I won't have time to answer all the questions I get. And in some cases, like this one, someone just honestly misinterprets something I say, and all I can do in that case is try to explain that they took it the wrong way.

I will not sit here and say I am never a little cranky on here , especially when people are trying to reopen debates for the 12th time that have long been closed. There are some things it is just a waste of time to go into, and if it's obvious the person knew that before asking, then my patience wears a little thin. But in the end, you are taking your free time to ask me stuff, and I am taking mine to answer -- and so we both have to respect each other, for the same reasons.