Yes, that is precisely what I wish to do—but, as I said, that is also going to take some patience and help from others and I have certainly, if unintentionally, abused my welcome.
I wouldn’t worry about having abused your welcome. In fact, give the biases of the kind of people who are attracted to this place it would be damn near impossible to do so irredeemably. They tend to have a character trait that makes them absolute suckers for humility and apology. They also suck at holding grudges. And I do mean suck. As in, probably to a fault. If someone with a grudge against you saw you arguing with someone else and the other guy was using fallacies all around they would come vigorously to your defense and may accidentally forget their grudge in the process. This is a negative only in as much as it sucks balls as a social-politics strategy.
There is also (obviously) still a lot that I don’t understand—for example, this post quickly acquired a downvote in addition to your comment and I don’t get why.
It did? Crazy. Some people just vote poorly. ;) If in doubt wait till the post/comment has been up for a day and see if it stays negative. Sometimes these things reverse themselves. If the comment/post stays negative then it does mean something (for better or for worse).
I wouldn’t worry about having abused your welcome. In fact, give the biases of the kind of people who are attracted to this place it would be damn near impossible to do so irredeemably. They tend to have a character trait that makes them absolute suckers for humility and apology. They also suck at holding grudges. And I do mean suck. As in, probably to a fault. If someone with a grudge against you saw you arguing with someone else and the other guy was using fallacies all around they would come vigorously to your defense and may accidentally forget their grudge in the process. This is a negative only in as much as it sucks balls as a social-politics strategy.
It did? Crazy. Some people just vote poorly. ;) If in doubt wait till the post/comment has been up for a day and see if it stays negative. Sometimes these things reverse themselves. If the comment/post stays negative then it does mean something (for better or for worse).