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Over the years I have noticed a disturbing trend here on DakkaDakka. The professionality of the insults is growing rare, refined taunting replaced by crude slurs. Inevitably these poor attempts at ridiculing others end in suspensions. This is naturally depressing for any civilised poster to behold. A community is only as good as its E-bullying, after all.

So, I ask you this. Have you ever wanted to really piss off that annoying guy, but in a way that only he will understand and thus won't invoke the moderators' wrath? If so, read on, and I will reveal the secrets to becoming a paragon of passive-aggressiveness and implied insults.

Step one: spelling

Spelling is often key to proper passive-aggressive posts. It can make the difference between the post being perceived as a compliment or a blood-boiling insult. Two things are central here. The first is to never capitalise, and the second is to rarely, if ever, use punctuation. To bystanders, it will appear as though your spelling simply is poor, but it will give your targets hints that something is amiss.

Step two: emoticons

Emoticons are not strictly mandatory, but skilled use of emoticons can turn a post from annoying to infuriating. is rather lightweight and safe to use, but an experienced poster should consider the more powerful =P. Of course, (: is the classic and excellent in most sitautions, and it will go a long way. For special occasions you can even use it in italics ( (: )to add a little hitting power, but do not overuse it, or it loses its edge.

Step 3: composition

The composition of the post should be tailored depending on the target. After all, it should seem harmless to everyone else. So find out more about the target and design the post appropriately.

Example:

Target is infamous for thinking tanks in sci-fi should be heavier

'i can see your arguments carry great weight, so it is with a heavy heart that i leave this thread (:'

This should suffice. many fortunes to you, and lets hope none of those annoying off topic peasants come here (:

This entire thread may or may not have been creates with a 100% facetious intent.

what a truly amazing guide that i can think of no use for at all im sure that so many people will be inspired by your lack of anything useful whatsoever (: gr8 b8 m8 i r8 it 8/8

 Avatar 720 wrote:
what a truly amazing guide that i can think of no use for at all im sure that so many people will be inspired by your lack of anything useful whatsoever (: gr8 b8 m8 i r8 it 8/8

10/10 read twice, would read again excellent post matey

Personally I've always found Dakka's lack of manliness in regards to insulting others to be one of its most unfortunate traits.

On many other forums I could, after going several rounds with someone in a debate, eventually quote their post and declare that their argument is dumb and I'm wasting my time by trying to make a logical appeal to them. The other guy basically says "likewise" and we move on with our lives.

On Dakka though, saying such a thing genuinely hurts the feelings of the carebears who frequent this place- and then mods are brought in to console them and dole out punishment.

Not being able to call a spade a spade can be frustrating at times.

what a great topic ash im sure everyone absolutely needed to have read this


Damn, I messed up. I am not worthy of your passive aggressive skills.

This thread isn't really what we want on dakka. 'How to best be rude to someone' isn't really a good thread to have under your name, you know? And making a thread like this with 100% facetious intent, even if you put that in small print, isn't really a positive either. It's toeing the line of trolling.

Come on regular OT users, sing along with me, I you know the words by now; As usual, any questions about the decision to lock this thread can be PM'd to either myself or another of the mod's.

Have a good day,

motyak