But in this particular case I agree with Slobodan and I think he deserves an apology.
Ya know...reading through all the criticisms posted (edited for brevity);
"I do not like bullies"
"bullying by the Cerberus-in-Chief" )I actually liked this one)
"flamed" customer"
"generated so much vituperation" [ok, have to admit I had to look that one up]
"I am appalled"
"a publishers nightmare"
"c. I believe that personality glitches in the resident Rottweiler were simply, and unavoidably, switched on; better ask Pavlov."
"slips into the gutter"
I thought wow, maybe I screwed the pooch and posted some really "Mean&Nasty™" response to the OP and crossed the lines of even my somewhat limited sense of civility...
So I went back and re-read what I wrote in post one and two to the OP....
Gotta tell ya, I really don't see where I was even rude to the OP let along falling into the true "Cerberus-in-Chief" category ...read what I wrote and parse the language carefully–I never said a mean thing to the guy...
I said: "If true, then I suggest you are speaking from ignorance as opposed to knowledge...if you think you know as much about Lightroom 2 or Camera Raw 4 as I do (and by not getting the vids, that's the presumption) then I suggest you may be wrong..."
Hummm...sorry if that sounds arrogant but I am assuming I know just a bit more about Lightroom 2 and Camera Raw CS4 than the OP and that he might be able to learn a thing or two from me...
Is that mean and nasty? Heck, I even said "I suggest he was wrong" instead of saying he was full of crap...
Yes, I presumed he hadn't seen either of the vids...sorry, that's the way he was positioning the critique. (Actually, I have a sneaking suspicion the OP hasn't upgraded to Photoshop CS4 and therefore isn't interested in any tutorials about it–so, he'll just have to wait till Adobe releases CS5 (which Michael and I are planning for).
So maybe it was my final comment...the "love me in the morning" comment...would it help if I added the smilie (did you or he honestly expect "love")
:~) (see, I added the friggin' smilie, ok?)
You'll note that I made the assumption that he could buy the products in question and if he DID'T find any value, then he could get a full refund (hey, it's a no risk deal–if LuLa won't give him a refund if he doesn't like the goods, I'll cut him a personal check for the difference).
So, then maybe it was my SECOND post on the subject that sent everybody's civility meters into overload...read that post and tell me EXACTLY where I went wrong...heck, I even added the friggin' smilie after the Adobe update schedule...was it the fact that I said he was behnd the 8-ball cause what he bought was the Real World Camera Raw CS3 version, not the current shipping version...)again, an assumption that he's still on CS3–which is perhaps a factor in his assessment of the lack of "new materials" critique).
Is there anything there to apologize for? Really?
As it relates the the Luminous Landscape forum and the overall scrutiny my posts seem to elicit (relative to some of the other a$$holes on the planet), guess what folks? I've been on-line since the early 1980's first with AOL, the CompuServe then various bulletin boards, the Adobe Forums, the Digital Darkroom forum and here at LuLa. I post the way I write and I write the way I think...re-read what I write carefully (I am now a professional writer ya know I'm a co-author of 3 books) and you tell me what the true nature of my posts actually are...no, I'm not particularly shy and retiring...yes, I tend to write aggressively and colorful...no, I'm not boring, yes, I tend to get into peoples' faces...I'm from Chicago, ya wanna make something of that?
I don't take the mentality that I want something from ANYBODY, so you can pretty much forget about me treating you all like a potential "client" and being "nice" to you because I want you to buy something from me. Do, or don't based entirely on your own wishes and desires...but you seriously shouldn't be expecting any particularly behavior from me in that regard...
At this point in my career, there is nothing I can be induced to do for money...I'm retired from advertising photography largely because in order to be successful as an ad shooter, you _DO_ have to treat idiots and a$$holes like they matter. And...they simply don't matter to me anymore...
If you all think I'm a big Mean&Nasty™, you have the option to set the forums to ignore me as a user...I've taken the liberty to do that to some of the other forums members who piss me off more than they post useful content...do that and you can completely avoid seeing my Mean&Nasty™ words to other people (think of it as a "Schewe" censor button).
You can also petition Michael to have me banned from the forums...but if you actually bother to carefully parse what I write, I doubt you'll be able to make a compelling case for banning, I suspect that ain't gonna happen...
So, you can act all offended and try to use the "way I treat customers" as some lame method of behavior modification...but that ain't gonna happen...I find some of the regular members intellectually challenging and not prone to false offense...to the rest of the people who seem hellbent on trying to bring about some sort of sanctimonious pressure to try to get me to "play well with others", sorry, just ain't gonna happen (it's way too much fun being a bad boy).
On a more sober note, I do indeed hope that everybody here in the LuLa flora & fauna have a wonderful Thanksgiving (at least here in the US) because I do have a great sense of gratitude that I find myself in the position I find myself in and can afford to "play" more often than "work".
(and for those who do find me "mildly entertaining"...I'll try to elevate my entertaining content in the future...
P.S. Note, since I'm actually in between books (the OP has so nicely pointed of that LR 3 and Photoshop CS5 won't be too far off) I'm free to spend my time on the forums trading jabs with you all...won't be long till I'll be completely overwhelmed by deadlines and find no time to play...so, make hay while the sun shines!