Fair enough and acceptable point of view however a few things though, Sometimes people need that push to do their best and respect you for murdering them.
Secondly sometimes in the heat of battle misfortune strikes even the one who is already behind and since we're quoting...NVM
It's been along time so I can't remember something about some things can only be shared by fighting them.
Thirdly regarding the mercy stock, I'd rather be the one who get's salty and having someone come back from a stock and beating me then having them get salty that I SD to make the game even (Don't get me wrong there are Friends I have probably done this for even i bracket).
Fighting with honor seems to be the best way to Level up some aspects of your play though and it's not like I'm never down for that xD.
It does come down to personal conviction xD There's always gotta be some sort of context for what you do, and based on that situation, people will interpret it one way or another. Just being considerate of that is a good enough thing.
Like its not as if you should SD every single time they do. Considering the circumstances of whether it was intentional or not and if they actually were able to recover with no difficulty is key to figuring out whether they deserve the mercy SD or not. Its not something easily explained xD as I just sorta decide at the time without thinking too much on it. Whether friend or new person, its important to weigh those options carefully.
Never said you weren't xD And I'm in total agreement with your last statement
I personally feel that taunts are useful as a means of communicating online, but that a certain amount of discretion is needed. Some taunting is fine, and I'll regularly use "Show me ya moves!" or "Come at Me!" as a greeting at the start of matches on For Glory or with friends. I'll also use taunts when I feel I or my opponent has done something particularly awesome, such as when I get a combo kill with ZSS off the top blast zone. In more serious matches, I generally won't use taunts, as it can be seen as unprofessional.
As for SDing in order to even the playing field...in some circles, that's a show of arrogance, rather than respect, and can make people as upset as taunting can. Trying to assign honor or dishonor to actions is difficult, and varies depending on the situation and who you're playing against. Generally just playing at your best ability is the best show of respect you can give someone.
Just my 2 cents.
Yep, context is the important thing here xD The taunts with the added small messages add another level of consideration when deciding to taunt or not. But what the taunts are used for since the old days is primarily disrespect towards your opponent, but the context changes if done to friends or randoms and how they view it. Call it a better safe than sorry approach, as you should consider what taunting can do to the other player and don't assume they'll take it exactly the way you intend it. Everything can be interpretted based on the circumstances of the match, whether you know the person or not, etc, so as long as you keep those in mind, you should be able to use taunt the way you intend to and not be misunderstood.
Take for example the shield break > taunt. This can be interpretted as:
1)HAH! you got your shield broken, you LOSE! -disrespecting tone-
2)Yes! I broke a shield -self directed satisfied tone-
There are probably other ways to interpret it, but those should be the primary two interpretations that come to mind. As is, it's a 50/50 shot of being taken as being disrespectful or not, but again, circumstances of the match, the person you just shield broke, etc, will have an effect on the interpretted meaning. This is especially true when our only means of communicating mid match is through our characters, which limits our means to express our intentions properly mid fight. We can't taunt carelessly without thinking about how it will be seen by the opponent. We can't always prevent the interpretation of insult from all of our actions mid fight, but we do have control of whether to taunt or not. Just as important, you need to check yourself of what you truly intend by using the taunt function, as being morally correct begins with checking oneself based on the guidelines one lives by (this is on the premise of your guidelines actually being good xD but that's another subject for another forum).
Those guys have a weird sense of what showing arrogance, but that's my own two cents on it xD (nah, I get where they are coming from, but its that varying POV). Of course playing to your best ability is the best show of respect and I couldn't agree with you more on that - the whole mercy SD thing is just one of the intricacies to it. The thing is how we are able to communitcate with our opponents (or lack thereof), so it would have been nicer to have the mics on mid match or something like that for stuff like this (course there's problems to that as well, but that's another discussion for another time). Also how I view the honour code and stuff will be different than another, but the main point here should be for all people to consider how they fight and treat their opponents, as well as consider any meanings that can be misinterpretted.
The way you are and the way you fight all have consequences to them, so always being considerate for yourself and others is probably the nutshell summary of all this xD
I use taunts to promote DLC, if I get a free moment. Gotta spread the word for my support thread.
Good job sir xD Dem DLC promos will throw off any misinterpretation, or at least I'd hope they would.