OK... I'm washing out my fingers with soap and water (joke). "Blasted", or asterisks if I'm quuoting someone, will be my epithet of choice from now on.
P.S. Just so you know, I wrote the "funky" post, and the one about Ken Loach which I could have thought of a better title for (like "Movie Director Ken Loach"),since not everyone may get my sometimes weird sense of humor... and in which I gratuitously referred to another poster who has annoyed me in the past... were both posted before I had read your post on this thread. In case you thought I was deliberately trying to "push the envelope" and test y'all in response to your post - not the case.
Since my memory is not perfect, and I may not have being paying full attention to what was going on on all the threads even at the time, I guess bringing up stuff from the past that others on here may not be familiar with, does constitute "gossip", although I did not intend it as such. Initially I didn't think that was such a fair assessment, but on second thought you are right.
I think Rastafari Speaks/Africa Speaks is an important website containing a treasure trove of information and a wide range of points of view which many could benefit from. I would like it to reach the broadest audience possible, and restraining my potty-mouthed ways is a small price to pay for that.
I am aware that my conduct is not and has not always been the best. On many occasions I have allowed strong feelings to get the better of me and crossed the boundary between reasoning/debate and shouting insults at people. I'm certainly not the only one who has done this, but that's not an excuse.
I hereby pledge to replace all expletives with "blasted" or something similarly mild and unequivocally legal, or asterisks if [for eg.] I'm quoting someone's lyrics where they cuss.