Do you sometimes wonder if people are just natural mean or having a bad day?

The only way I would think they were naturally a mean person is if they continued to post negative remarks on discussions. Otherwise I think they are just having a bad day or are just on a rant. But sometimes you gotta look at your own response to their discussion. Maybe you said something inappropriate that made them "fly off the handle"? Sometimes instead of pointing the finger, you also need to take a look at yourself.

I don't think that most people are naturally mean. Some people I think are. I do however think that there are a lot of people who take their bad moods out on other people too much.

I worked in retail for several years and when ever I would get a customer who was less than nice, I would remind myself that I had no idea of what might be going on in their lives or what may have happened to them prior to coming into the store. They certainly are not going to offer to tell me, but can't control how whatever has happened to them makes them feel. I think its the same thing on this site. You just don't know and should give the person the benefit of the doubt. Unless you see that this person is continually giving negative feedback and then I guess it would be fair to assume that perhaps they are just mean.

I am almost positive that most people are not naturally mean. Everybody has their up and down days and people should respect that. I know I do. I can have major mood swings from one day to the next. But I do think that there are people out there that are naturally mean. People that get pleasure from the misery of others. I have been unfortunate enough to meet some of these. What I have learned though and what I think a lot of people do not understand is that people who seem naturally mean do not realize just how mean they are to people. Some do but I think most don't believe they are mean.