Nickishine,
You are a really wonderful voice here, and I'm glad you are here. Your voice is enthusiastic, spontaneous, supportive, positive, sunny, and filled with applause.
I'm glad your voice is here. But not everyone is going to have the same inspired perspective. And that's a good thing. Others are going to see something that hits them in a personal way and they are going to feel like it's important that they remark on that. Others are going to feel like they have the unique perspective that allows them to understand the poster's position and they might be able to influence them with a story from their own life. Others are going to get angry when people relapse and are going to state that they are angry. They might feel like the most important thing is to share than rather than merely encourage.
There are endless varieties. That's the beauty of SR.
We all want to encourage and support. But we also all have different personalities and different ways of going about it.
I try really hard to be positive here. But I can't do that at the expense of being truthful, being as deeply engaged as I can be, and being myself. Sometimes, I chose honesty over everything else. I try to do so with respect and tact. But I can imagine that at times, my responses might bother someone who is of a different nature than me.
One thing I make an assumption about - I assume that anyone who comes here is honestly making an effort at recovery and sobriety. I assume that they are here to learn. And sometimes, learning is painful. Sometimes, hearing the truth is painful. And that's okay. That's part of the process.
Again, I applaud your voice here. I am so glad you're here. I hope you also give room for a variety of voices. You don't need to protect others from criticism or contentious situations. Part of their recovery has to do with addressing the reactions that their actions or non-actions provoke. When people are act provocative, it's approriate to let them know. That's one of the things we can do as a community. There's a reason why they are acting in a provocative nature. They won't learn that without others engaging with them in a meaningful way.
- mle