It's not fool-proof, but here's how I generally manage:
1- Identify when I'm in a bad/pissy mood. This is important: if you don't know you're in a bad mood, you can't act accordingly.
2- If a post immediately pisses me off, I force myself to step away from the post, either physically or metaphorically. I wait a minimum of one hour before replying, and by then the urge to reply has usually passed anyway.
3- If I find myself with the overwhelming urge to explain to a poster in a lengthy diatribe exactly how they are wrong and why, including citations from primary and secondary sources, I again step away from the crazy. This impulse is a pretty good indicator to me that I need to turn my tongue around my mouth ten times.
4- Sometimes I wait up to 24 hours before replying, if I can tell that I'm still angry. Posting while angry is about as productive as posting while drunk, and not nearly as amusing to readers.
The Secret To Not Answering Comments And Posts While Crabby
1- Identify when I'm in a bad/pissy mood. This is important: if you don't know you're in a bad mood, you can't act accordingly.
2- If a post immediately pisses me off, I force myself to step away from the post, either physically or metaphorically. I wait a minimum of one hour before replying, and by then the urge to reply has usually passed anyway.
3- If I find myself with the overwhelming urge to explain to a poster in a lengthy diatribe exactly how they are wrong and why, including citations from primary and secondary sources, I again step away from the crazy. This impulse is a pretty good indicator to me that I need to turn my tongue around my mouth ten times.
4- Sometimes I wait up to 24 hours before replying, if I can tell that I'm still angry. Posting while angry is about as productive as posting while drunk, and not nearly as amusing to readers.