Well, first, I want to say that I don't think anyone misunderstood you, Hazel. I didn't see anyone saying anything that led me to believe they thought you didn't like the cameo fics or were offended by them. I think we all understood that you were just looking after the more sensitive folcs out there. But I think some of us (in particular, El and I) were just trying to point out that the authors who had composed stories so far were, in fact, being careful. They targetted people that they are good friends with and that they knew would find the ribbing funny rather than offensive.
I do want to address this though:
Rule of thumb to live by: Assume the other person is super-sensitive. Even if you're wrong, no harm done.
My first reaction here was to bristle, since it really upsets me when people try to tell me how to live my life. But once I got over that, it occurred to me that this might not always be the best rule of thumb for everyone anyway. If everyone lived by this, Wendy and Jill would have had to assume that I'm supersensitive about my drinking, and they would never have written the cameos that I thought were hysterical. I think it's more prudent to know your audience (whether it's audience in the traditional sense, or just who you are talking to/about in real life) and to reasonably assess if they would be offended by what you are about to write/say. I refuse to walk on eggshells for the rest of my life. But that's just me. I'm not going to try to tell anyone else how to live. If your theory works for you, that's great.
