How do things work around here.

[Clodfobble]

I think the trick is differentiating between the type of sarcasm you use with your friends, and the type of sarcasm you use with your enemies, and the fact that it's rarely a good idea to use sarcasm with strangers. Also, it's important to remember that not everyone here is friends with everyone else, so you may see two Dwellars being genuinely rude to each other, and if you don't know about whatever long-running baggage the two of them have going, you may assume that this is how people here treat their friends.

Really, it boils down to becoming familiar with each person here individually. Then you will know, when a person says something to you, how they meant it. If you don't know them, react to whatever they say the same way you would to a stranger on the street.

[Aliantha]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Really, it boils down to becoming familiar with each person here individually. Then you will know, when a person says something to you, how they meant it. If you don't know them, react to whatever they say the same way you would to a stranger on the street.

The problem with this is that while the new person is a stranger and we're all strangers to them, we're not strangers to each other, so it's more akin to a new person showing up at a party where everyone else is already familiar which I think has a certain different set of rules.

For example, if you're the new person and someone seems to be being rude to you (even if they were actually joking), and you react the way you would with a stranger on the street (that is to tell them to take a flying leap or the equivalent), you might find yourself at the bottom of a dog pile around here, mainly because it's natural for people who know each other to take the side of their familiars...even if they might not 100% agree.