I&#x27;ve done it in spoken language since long before I heard of, yet alone used, the internet.<p>I rarely do it, &quot;<i>to dull the edges of an opinion</i>&quot;.  Instead, I do it to provide explicit context (e.g. this my <i>opinion</i> or my <i>observation</i>, similar to the way people will use &#x27;IANAL&#x27; in discussion of a legal matter) and to let people know that I genuinely think I&#x27;m missing the point.  The only way someone might be able to help fill in what I&#x27;ve missed is to explain what I see from my perspective.  While most of the time, my perspective turns out to be pretty close to the mark, there have been times when I was really, really off, and someone was able to help provide the context necessary for comprehension.<p>In this particular case, I actually thought <i>exactly</i> the same thing as the original commentor and am glad to know that I&#x27;m not alone in my impression and subsequent confusion that &quot;I think I&#x27;m missing the point&quot;!