I know Rob "IRL"...not super well, but well enough to know that he is not a complete lunatic and that he is not a dangerous guy. (Hi Rob!) Now I will speak of you as if you are not here, since that seems to be what we are doing.
Rob actually is one of the most misunderstood people I have met in my life due to the following:
1. He is insanely stubborn. (Rob, you know this, so cool it)
2. I think he suffers a similar thought disorder to the one that I was once diagnosed as struggling with. It is not a super big deal, but it can hinder communication. If you notice his speech patterns indicate that he is rarely actually focused on the thought he is expressing...thoughts move quickly, sometimes in a circular fashion. He just has an active mind, he is thinking a lot of things, all at once. I think, he often has many thoughts in his head at one time and is trying to express them all at once...the result is incredibly disjointed, redundant, speechy/preechy looooooong winded communications. (Rob, I'm allowed to say those things because I have the EXACT same problem!) It has taken me a long time to get to a point where I can focus on one thought and express it well. This continues to be hard for me when I am excited or angered, etc....I have to remember to settle myself down and slow my thoughts.
3. His style of writing is not suited for the interwebs...seriously. Rob comes off as being a pretty weird guy on the internet...but really, he is just writing in the exact way that he speaks...and it just doesn't come off well.
He really is not a "nut job"...or at least, not any more a nutjob than most of us. I mean, we all have our quirks, obsessions, etc. Rob feels really really strongly about the Principles of Non Agression...and when he goes off in describing what it means he can tend to go on and on (Rob, in all fairness I HAVE told you that!) and if you don't keep up closely with the conversation you can kind of lose some of it and sort of "come to" right in the middle of the part where he describes his feelings about using force and it can make him sound like a violent guy...but really, REALLY, the point of it is that he does not believe that anyone has the right to use force against anyone else, unprevoked. It's just that his definitions of "force" and "prevokation" are sometimes a little more intense.
I haven't seen Rob in like....an eternity, so it's possible that he's been on some sort of downward spiral and is completely insane now...but I feel like I would have heard about that at some point, from somebody! So, I'm going to go with what he has been since I've known him: Misunderstood, heavily judged and really completely innocent of most judgements laid against him.
Oh, and the reason he seems to be a COMPLETE lunatic when engaged in a fight on the internet, is because he is really crappy at "off the cuff" communications in intense situations. (Rob, whether you feel this or not...it is what I have observed.) He enjoys choosing his words wisely, he can sometimes misspeak or talk in circles when he doesn't have time to mull things over.
Plus, did I mention he is ridiculously stubborn?
BTW, Hello John Shaw. I haven't been here in like...a year, good to see you around!