Is it only me or does any one else get irritated .....

I don't get irritated so much. It is only their opinion after all, but I do get concerned if their opinion goes over my moral ground.

Freedom of opinion is good, but not when that opinion hurts others or themselves. for example if someone would say: "I like killing people", people then respond in anger, but they simply "get away with it" by saying "it is only my opinion", you can't just say what you like whenever and wherever you like, it has to be appropriate to the time, place and event. There is a wrong and a right but people aren't always aware of it, so sometimes they need reminding. You also get destructive and constructive criticism, depends on how you take it.
But overall I agree with you.

Well, if the wording of the question is so poor that it gets in the way of the answer, then it is acceptable for the answerer to try to get you to provide clarity.

You have to make your questions understandable, and clear, or getting an answer is very difficult. You know that the people tried to answer, and perhaps would have if you had worded the question correctly. Just think, all those answers that simply told you to fix the question could have been giving you advice. Be thankful for those of us that answer, and try to remember that we are all in this together, If we don't like your questions, then ours are probably worded "correctly" in our brains. I answer you, you answer me.

It is a typical slam of the ME and Korea to say that they don't have freedom of speech, but keep this in mind - Our right as answerers to speak our minds should not be overridden by your freedom to ask questions in the first place.

I provide a decent answer to as many questions as I can, but really, if I can't understand what you are asking, then I feel it is my civic duty to let you know that your English is terrible enough to interfere with comprehension.

It's just to get xper points

I don't get irritated when someone corrects an error or clarifies upon something.

Well I will agree that it is pointless for someone to reply with no advice other than grammatical corrections. I will say, though, I often am more annoyed with questions that don't really get specific at all and aren't clear enough to provide a realistic answer. If an answer is asking for more information or doesn't understand the question because of poor grammar than I can see the point. As for your comment about where you live and being told how to word your sentences. no matter where you go there will be someone who feels inclined to correct you. Personally, I find it annoying when my friends correct me, however, I choose to just make sure I don't give them the opportunity to correct me rather than getting mad about it. I don't really see it as rude in general if someone corrects you, depending on the wording and situation, but I know it upsets some people. People make mistakes and some people just want to let you know they don't get what you are asking. if they do it in a rude manner than just give it the down arrow and shrug it off.

I agree with you. The questions are easy enough to answer, so why insult the person?
People are so critical.

"As for the Middle East/Korea comment it had nothing to do with race."

No one was taking about race. It was the fact you can generalize a whole country that you know nothing about. People are too quick to assume and make ignorant comments! P.S. There is a NORTH and SOUTH Korea that both have very different political views.

I agree I hate that there is a purpose to this and it isn't for practising your corrections.

Your comment is correct, except the bit about the middle east. That's a broad and ignorant statement to make. Also, it can't hurt to use spell check and read over your questions or responses before submitting them. Reading threw incorrect grammar and misspelled words can be distracting, BUT I agree, it's rude to correct someones questions. For example your whole last sentence is messed up. It should say, TO THOSE FEW WHO KNOW IT ALL, GET OVER YOURSELF. Hope that helps : )

this post was purely to start an online fight. what could be more pointless than that?

Well this isn't a U.S.A. only site, there are members from everywhere. And if people are correcting you it's probably because your lack of grammar makes it hard to understand what you are saying. I don't think there are a lot of people hanging around for the purpose of correcting grammar.