The truth? This from the guy who thinks every weird new slang he encounters was invented by teen girls and that psychic powers are real? You wouldn't know truth if it clamped on your little balls and squeezed.

Um, if I hear some weird new slang frequently used by teen girls and no one else long before I start seeing/hearing it used by others, then it's safe to theorize that it may have originated from them, especially given their known propensity for being creative in such a way. Epic fail, though I can understand your bias, since your thing is little girls, not adolescent girls, and the more the latter are praised for something on this board, the more it detracts from attention and praise given to the former in your eyes. As for your contention that psychic phenomena are most definitely not real...that is pushing your atheistic viewpoint on us, because never in your life have you ever done the research--including actually working with real psychics who weren't charlatans--to make an accurate scientific statement on this matter; in other words, you spewed a belief of yours at me as if it was a fact, something you cannot prove, which would be no different from you saying, "The truth? This from a guy who thinks the devil isn't real!" When have you ever stood behind contentions that were based on fact rather than assumptions and beliefs, Markie? The answer: not often, despite your constant pretensions towards rationality. But keep throwing the ad hominems at me, Markie...they really bolster your case and make you look less desperate to make a point than you actually are. Good form, mate.

No it wasn't, and I'm gonna tell you this once and once only: do NOT fucking tell me what is going on in my own head, because you haven't the slightest clue.

And I'll tell you this as many times as necessary, and not limit it to just one time only: one doesn't have to literally be a mind-reader to know what your intentions are when you follow a very consistent pattern over and over again. Words on a screen can tell a lot about what is going on in a person's head.

Moreover, you used this in order to attempt to invalidate my entire post. That's not valid debate.

Maybe if you had approached the issue in a manner that did not included obviously loaded questions and assumptions, that would not have occurred.

That is poisoning the well, which you very well know because I've seen you point it out when others have done it. If you don't want to take my post seriously, just don't reply. But I'm telling you right now, if you REALLY want to make this personal, you will regret that decision. So back the fuck off.

Is this a threat? Am I supposed to back off from challenging things you say that I disagree with because you try to make me afraid to do so? I will never regret challenging you if I honestly believe it's warranted, sorry, so I am not backing off a single fraction of an inch. Clearly you do not know me as well as you think if you actually believe a threat is going to make me fear challenging you if I sincerely believe it's warranted. What are you going to do, go back down the path that you did in the past? You know better than that. If you have genuine criticisms of my arguments, then present them.If you have genuine criticisms of my arguments, then present them.

And yes, I do take it personal when I feel my community is constantly being told, in whatever words one chooses to use, that most of them are a bunch of selfish creeps whose conduct cannot be trusted around kids without draconian rules to control them, and that kids are little more than a cross between a naive fool and a china doll. You make it personal when you make such statements repeatedly.

If you have genuine criticisms of my arguments, then present them.

I did. The fact that I did so in a heated fashion, due to being tired of seeing you make the same attacks on us over and over again, did not invalidate their validity. Nothing I said was motivated by a personal dislike for you as a person.

But you obviously know my points and questions were valid because that's when you tend to get personal. It's obvious to everyone that's the truth. It's certainly obvious to me.

I would say it's obvious to everyone when you are throwing digs and insults at your community as a result of your personal issues, which is what you did in your post that started this thread. If you truly did intend to ask a valid set of questions, the way you presented them--with all of your assumptions and contentions about how we would "obviously" behave if Epstein's schema was implemented--buried all of the valid questions, which is likely why you got very few responses, and certainly why you got an angry response from me. It's all in the presentation, mate.

Because A) the people who will attack you on this stuff will not play nice, so I try to approach it with a bit of that in mind,

And look what your approach resulted in. Why not try trusting us, including me, to respond fairly if you present the question in a fair way, sans all the nasty assumptions you made?

B) I have explained here before several times that I often play Devil's Advocate for the reasons I explained above.

And I explained to you before that someone claiming to play "devil's advocate" repeatedly is a sure sign they are advocating their own views, but attempting to disguise the fact. It's a very common ploy that is used on every discussion or political board you will ever come across. Maybe that is not the best approach for you to use, if this is what results from it.