Your somewhat restrained redress of New Yorker’s braggart posting has my utmost maternal approval. Thank you for all of us. And by all means, let us move on.

@Jose: Interesting enough to leave a comment, isn’t it?

Drop it and move on.

Sir, yes, sir!

I’d also observe that a troll can be a good *foil* for more writing, which was exactly the case this time…

I missed that… I guess we’re not dealing with an M.I.T. rocket scientist. Now it’s just comedic that the finger wagging has gotten that far.

1. What makes people pick apart others blog posts for the slightest tidbit of inaccuracy so they can comment to prove to the world how much of an intellectual juggernaut they are, when in fact, it only makes them look like and giant oaf who constantly checks their MySpace comments so they can reply.

2. If you’re not a parent, you probably don’t understand, those with nieces or nephews need not apply. It is parental instinct when someone has picked a story apart to refute someones thoughts like the turkey at Thanksgiving.

3. It is only words, meaning the comment(s) left. I’ve had comments on my blogs by the anally retentive trolls looking for fodder, only to ignore them. It’s not nor has it ever been worth the valuable time. I only wonder why I’m up on a soapbox commenting myself.

4. I see people commenting on the author and his “holier than thou” attitude. I’d like to ask those, “how do you know?” Have you met with and conversed with the author? Probably not. I haven’t, but I’m sure this comment will be picked apart by someone with too much time on their hands. Me? It’s my day off, trump that.

Point being, isn’t there more pressing issues in the world today to debate over? Rather than the amount of snowfall in NYC? Petty doesn’t even begin to describe the comment by “New Yorker” and ignorance is the only thing I can muster from the comment by “Pennsylvanian”

Tsk… shame.

Jeffrey, I can sympathize. With the snowfall in New England, and where I am… when stuff melted last week it only caused chaos. My children BOTH sunk to their calves in snow and slush when they ran out to catch the bus.

“New Yorker” DID call Mr Zeldman a liar.
“New Yorker” did NOT take shots at Mr Zeldman’s daughter.
“New Yorker” did NOT criticize Mr Zeldman’s writing – in fact, he complimented it, indicating that he always enjoys it.

On the other hand:

Mr Zeldman DID react at being called a liar.
Mr Zeldman DID insist that he was telling the truth (apart from obvious hyperbole).
Mr Zeldman did NOT “target out an anonymous critic for not praising [him]“.

I do not claim to know whether Mr Zeldman is telling the truth, because I do not live in America, let alone New York. But “New Yorker” claims to know, simply because A) he lives in New York, and B) he checked the average level of snowfall in New York on a weather report website. Mr Zeldman has already explained why that is not necessarily a good indicator of actual snow depth on specific sidewalks in specific parts of New York. His explanation was based on common knowledge and common sense such as “people shovel”.

It’s not that “New Yorker” couldn’t be right or that Mr Zeldman couldn’t be wrong. It’s that “New Yorker”, in his arrogance, never even stopped to consider the possibility that the information avaiable to him was not sufficient to prove Mr Zeldman a liar. He insisted that he knew all he needed to know – thus, Mr Zeldman must be lying.

Pennsylvanian: If I give you the benefit of doubt and assume that you’re not just “New Yorker” under a different name: Why do you insist, even after Mr Zeldman’s explanation, that his story was a “tall-tale”? Do you have any further proof? Were you there when it happened? Are you trying to claim that people do NOT shovel, that snow does NOT stay on the ground if it is cold enough?

If, on the other hand, I don’t give you the benefit of doubt: I believed that “New Yorker” wasn’t a troll, that he was just being a know-it-all. If you are “New Yorker”, though, I now believe that you are a troll. Your drama queen rhetoric is especially telling. Feel free to prove me wrong.

Still, they’re right; there were no shots being taken at your child. I’d totally understand the defence mechanism coming out if that were the case. Re-read the comments.. he (I’m guessing it’s a guy) simply called BS on your story.

He was also wrong – thanks to the magic of tagging and filtering, we can easily see that there was indeed sidewalk slush, in NYC, on Feb 13.

Storm in a teacup though really, eh?