I'm just glad that wasn't me, as without at least a couple of quarts of coffee in my system those are the sort of questions I tend to ask

Erik and I are continuing the discussion of my comment and this thread offline (Erik, if you'd rather I didn't say that, please feel free to delete this comment).

This is probably going to sound kinda odd, but I'm an idealist as far as relationships are concerned, and probably in general. I try to never burn bridges (although I'm sure I have at some point, and I've had a few crumble over time), and... okay, I realize this is going to sound extremely self-righteous and I'm really not trying to be that way... but I strive to show love as unconditionally as possible. I mean, I try not to interact in an eye-for-an-eye sort of way, but more in the way that I try to give good back to you no matter what you give to me. I'm not saying I actually achieve that, but that's my ideal, and I try to get there as much as I can.

I'm really lucky because the people I know do the same favor for me when I'm a jerk, and I'm forgiven for my stupidity just like I'm sometimes able to forgive them, etc. So I end up with a lot of close friends where I otherwise would have begun collecting enemies. It's totally wonderful!

Still, I know that business sometimes doesn't work well by those standards because people will take advantage of you. But that's a whole different discussion.

I have a lot of respect for Erik.. I'm an icon designer for several of his softwares (if you think I'm biased then please do not read any further), I can see that he's pretty humble and heartful. I wouldn't label him as a prick at all even though if he lets his ego get a hand of him sometime. From what I see here, his rule is fairly simple: 'If you respect me, I will respect back'. Those people are obviously trying to poke him in order to create some trouble.

I only design icons/graphics for serious and respectable developer(s) and Erik is one of them.

</end biased to those who think I am>

I usually feel that my prick-ness is warranted. I'm not much of a "don't burn bridges" kinda guy. I tell it like it is and get frustrated when my attempts to be nicey nice fail to get the point across. I haven't shared the whole story here, and I won't be, but suffice to say this person failed to get polite hints. He continued to IM repeatedly after being asked to stop.

He pushed buttons, and you bet it's one of my lesser traits that I rose to the bait. If only Adium let me block people… It's a shortcoming of mine, and one I'm working on. But, like someone on a diet, sometimes I let myself loose a little. This was such a case.

The job declination, by the way, was really not very condescending. The job offer itself was offensive, given what had been discussed, and I placed enough trust in the friendship to be honest in my response to the offer. The work conditions were utter crap.

You obviously have the right to cut people out of your beta testing program whenever you want since it's your software.

However, with all due respect, I've noticed a trend over the year or so that I've been reading this blog when you post entries about the emotional, firey conflicts you have with others (like the job offer you turned down with a condescending letter) True, I don't really know you, but please allow me to make an observation, admittedly unsolicited.

I think our own ego frequently gets in the way during conflicts with other people, and rather than it coming out as only a slightly-negative experience for both of you, you come out with egg on your face for having displayed an unnecessarily cocky attitude (a.k.a "which includes and is chaired by me, the only member") in the middle of the conflict. And for some inexplicable reason, you're extremely proud of yourself for it.

You've got a lot of excellent qualities as far as I can tell. That's not one of them.

Ryan hit it on the head. You said to file an official complaint, and chat obviously isn't an official complaint, hence my question. I knew you were just being an asshole there (given your remark about you being the only member), but I still wanted to go about this in the proper manner, seeing as you deleted my account with no warning and the only reason you gave (after the fact) was completely bullshit.