Oh, fuck this for a game. Trolling?
I really can’t be arsed responding to tossers like you any more. The forum’s all yours, matey. Please enjoy without me.
I’m going to sound like a curmudgeon, but the mistaken use of average always bugs me. Average = mean does not equal half above and half below. The term for that is median. I recall an editorial going on and on about how there couldn’t be a sampling where 90% of school test cases were above average. Clearly written by someone who didn’t pay attention in math class.
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Been following Harters for a long time and never had the slightest sense of him being a troll in ANY way.
John, don’t let this person be a reason for leaving. Not worth it in the slightest.
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I wish I could like this more than once. Harters has been here since the start and was on Chowhound for years. He is the anti-troll. Just because his experience of deconstruction as a reworking of a dish in a novel way differs from boston_otter’s experience of just serving the standard dish as separate elements for the diner to reconstruct doesn’t make either right or wrong, just different. This is a site for discussion, correct? I’m unclear why offense was taken.
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When the sample is large enough, mean and median tend to converge. Heaven knows, there are enough food “writers” because the Internet made everyone a critic/expert (just as Guttenberg made everyone a reader; the copy machine everyone a publisher; and the fax everyone a propagandist); and we’re pretty sure that writers as a cohort do not skew to the right or left in standard deviation talk to mess with medians and means. That said, the noted post mentioned “half”, triggering a vague memory of Garrison Keillor’s tongue in-cheek observation about “average” . . .
Yes - I so agree. I love your contributions. Don’t let him make you leave!
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No Harters. Please don’t leave.
Walk away for a little while. Take a break from here.
(A small break. Big breaks are no good 
)
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There will be no enjoyment without you, John. Believe it.
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I think I am with you. There was a group of posters on CH (I think men) who were pedants, maybe even aspies, that would argue the F out of anything. They loved the Site Talk area for their self indulgences , creepy puns, self-congratulatory humor etc.
Best of luck to this board. It is a good idea, but not of interest to me.
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John’s NOT a troll. He was on CH for a very very long time, AND I’ve met him in person when he visited New England, as has @GretchenS.
So @boston_otter owes him an apology. Just because someone has a different opinion doesn’t mean they’re a troll on a message board.
@Harters, I do hope you return and can ignore those who don’t know what they’re talking about.
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jeebus. we already have people flouncing off in a huff?
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Is that a condescending British reference?? ;o]]]]]] Never mind. Just trying to add some levity.
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Always figured England, France, and Italy were immune to this effect. Not sure why I thought that. Sad for me, I like variety.
Yes. Just assemble the cake, please. And it always look to me like someone ate some of the cake and left a few pieces for me.
I’ve read before that telling someone how to eat their food is a no-no, but I don’t mind if someone’s done something really creative and gives me a suggestion.
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Except that black forest doesn’t have coconut or nuts, sounds like a german chocolate cake/black forest mash-up. Not that it couldn’t be good, or qualify as deconstructed, but let’s keep our cakes straight. 
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Yes, of course. Please forgive me. I’ll go stand in the corner.
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It was actually another poster that you had quoted, I was just too lazy to find and quote the original.
Don’t mind me, it’s a pastry chef thing…
Is this International Pissy Week on this forum? I hope it’s over!
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Hi Babette
There is a nice and not nice way to get one’s point across.
I can understand apologizing for confusing the person you were quoting,
but not for the content of what you wrote.
Your post is not patronizing and it was snark free, it is factual.
For anyone who lacks basic knowledge it is important to read what you wrote.
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I was just kidding (and self-chastising) with Babette. I’m not a fan of smiley faces, and not the best writer, and I see how it could be read differently. But I thought she got it. Believe me, I am upset at myself for not picking up that the components were from two different cakes.
I think of HO as a safe place for people to speak their minds. Honestly, if Babette had said “you idiot, those are two different cakes, how dare you use the word ‘cake’ in your username, go back to chowhound” it would be fine. It would sting for a bit, I might even think “words hurt you big meanie”, but I’d be more happy Babette took time out of her day to read what I wrote and respond. These days I even get some sort of perverse satisfaction feeling emotions. Next time the kid yells about something I’ll forget about it anyway, but the knowledge will remain. I understand this approach is probably very specific to me.
I am upset about one thing, though. I can’t stop thinking about Black Forest and German Chocolate cakes.
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