Massive difference? Wow. I know you may not have read all my posts on the matter but I'm sure you are aware that I think 4 Tests is no where near enough. However if you take issue with my subjective opinion that Barry Richards is a cute selection I will stop it after this post. FTR, I'm saying cute because I use it at times to describe something small and pretty - which sums up Richards Test career.
Yeah, I'm aware of your opinion and I agree with it; I find it incredibly difficult to select Barry Richards in an ATG XI aimed at being the best 11 players in history. I by no means take issue with your subjective opinion that Richards is not the best selection and I am glad you raised the points you have. Don't get me wrong, I want to see debate on both sides of the argument and I most definitely value your contributions to the discussion.
But disagreeing with the selection of Richards and having a well-reasoned debate/discussion on it is one thing. Dismissing people as being "cute" (which, FTR, is coded with condescension irrespective of how you are using it; one does not use language in some contextually-lacking vacuum) and treating them like idiots for holding a different opinion (since you just bumped a 6-month-old thread that was dripping with sarcasm and condescension to anyone who dared disagree) is completely different.
<About here I am switching from that specific issue to a wider analysis; nothing personal NUFAN>
When someone acts that way towards those with different opinions, nobody is going to want to engage in debate with them - which lowers the standard of CC overall because people either get sick and tired of being treated like idiots for their opinion and leave, or we get one massive circlejerk where everyone agrees and nothing ever gets challenged.
Not to mention it results in posters taking their entire view of others based on their manner of posting, rather than the content they provide - and that's terrible because it means that people with fantastic cricket brains are ignored or disliked because of this idea you can't debate with them without being treated like an idiot.
This is a bit of a general outburst - I want it to be abundantly clear that I take no issue with you whatsoever NUFAN - as the standard of debate on CW in this regard has been pretty dire across the board recently. I'm guilty of it as well at times, and would never claim not to be. I mean, there have been other threads in recent times that were cut short because the debate descended into personal attacks, despite interesting points of view challenging the status quo thinking. I'd much rather see civil debate in which disagreement is constructive and strengthens knowledge, rather that reducing the pool of views to draw from.
