As this is the watercooler, you expect some people to come up with obscure posts to match those overheard at real office water fountains and break rooms.
My own bête noir is when a gamer starts prattling on about the obscure details of some virtual corner of a big online game (MMORPG to the initiated). If you don't play the game, you look at the person as though s/he has grown an extra head or three. (And I don't dare go online because I might find that in the game world, that is EXACTLY what happened.)
We have to remember that such people are oblivious to the incredulous stares and glares that we give them. Since this is a text-board watercooler, stares and glares don't work so you have to make a more definitive statement. I think that if this had happened in person (i.e. really F2F in phonetextspeak), someone would have said, "Say what?" to the comment about the blue-front amazon because it would have made no sense in spoken words either - if you are not a connoisseur of exotic tropical birds.
In essence, I have to say that I'm with Colin on this one. Someone with a thin skin should not "hang out their passion" for others to step on it.
