My response was not towards a critique. My response was to a set of "rules" period. There is no need for me to apologize.
Having been complimenting your way of breaking the "rules" in my previous post above, and being a fan of your work in general, allow me to disagree with your logic above. His critique equals listing a set of rules, hence you can not claim that your response was not toward a critique. Once you post something in public, you should be prepared for all kind of critique, including negative, which shall be then accepted with grace, even if you disagree (and especially when the majority of opinion is in your favor). Calling one's opinion "antiquated" and "anal" is definitely not graceful, even if true.
Now, having said than, I do NOT think apology is in order. In my humble opinion, apologies are best reserved for unintentionally stepping on someones toes in, say, public transport... expressing one's opinion should not require an apology (although how you phrase your opinion is going to speak more about you than about the subject of the debate).
