'When people irritate me, I take a step back and see if it is really worth getting riled up over.'
Son, the following question is not directed at you...I'm just using the first line of your post to illustrate something.
When people 'attack' a poster, I wonder how many times a poster actually steps back and questions their own behavior. I wonder if any of us here are self-possessed enough to know that, indeed, we may inspire in others feelings that aren't always 'nice'.
I can assure you that there are several here who have confessed to me they know what they've done or said could be the root of the negativity they are receiving. I, myself, have recognized my bad behavior to Juliana of Juliana's Journal. I, at times, was out of line and should have given this very sweet, trusting twenty year old the benefit of the doubt. I was not particularly deep at 20. Very few are. And I forgot that. So I stepped back and I take full responsibility for what I wrote.
But so many people here are more than willing to step on toes and provoke reactions and then go crying 'Stop attacking me!' when called on it.
I find that kind of behavior forgivable in the teens here...as Alanis Morrisette once said, 'You live, you learn.' I have a lot of hope (if not paience

) for the young folk here who are trying to expose themselves to the wonderful art of theatre.
However, adults should know better. If you start a fire, put it out or get some first aid ointment for the burns.
"I'm so looking forward to a time when all the Reagan Democrats are dead."