Yes, I was trying to deflect the venom with humour. I was trying to engage both parties but mostly failed cause
someone had his knickers in a knot. It was actually an interesting discussion at some points so that was worthwhile but I think the biggest issue was that merc didn't want to inform Jill of his personal involvement with some aspects of the recent events and instead gave her a hard time for arguing the point without said knowledge.
There is some truth to what Merc said about Jill wading in at full speed from the start (no disrespect intended to Jill in any way), without prior knowledge of the resident posters. Most of the rest of us would have known merc's background enough to at least give his views credit, even if we didn't happen to agree, whereas Jill was probably not privy to this information and so his insistance of his point of view just seemed like sheer bloody mindedness.
I'm not saying merc was right to treat Jill that way. It would have been better for all of us if he'd just explained why he holds a particular opinion about things, but he decided to be a dick instead. I'm sure we've all had days like that before.
Anyway, I think it's time to move on to the next conflict. Someone else can try and mediate next time!
