Quote Originally Posted by MikeL
On the British forum the posts are often aggressive, laddish, ego-driven and full of flaming. They're also fun to read.
Heh. Quite. It's the whole British repressed self-loathing thing. I've been lurking in uk.rec.motorcycles on USENET since, oh, 2001 or so. Great fun. Good place to learn the Tao of Flaming and why the CG125 is the Greatest Motorcycle Ever.


Quote Originally Posted by MikeL
On the Yank forum there is courtesy and an exaggerated concern for respecting others - no flaming tolerated. Irony is rare and when it occurs often provokes puzzled responses.
'scoz merkins are dumb, innit? Plenty of exceptions of course but they all seem to be infected with this wide-eyed cultural naivety and childlike inability to grasp subtlety. Americans generally annoy me in person but I don't have it in me to be mean to them, it's like shooting fish in a barrel.


Quote Originally Posted by MikeL
The Aussie forum is all irony in that typically undercutting way that makes you wonder whether they can ever take anyone or anything seriously.
Never take on an Aussie in a real-world slanging match.