Eh, let the Asian market have their silly little social moraes. I don't rightly care. Besides, I don't think anyone really gives the after round attack a second thought. At least I don't (besides that when I do it, it makes me giggle, of course).

Good show, Sir.

I never really thought about the post-round attacks as being positive or negative really, not until I heard Japanese players did.

As for taunting, it doesn't piss me off, but to me it shows a lack of respect. When people taunt me mid-fight, I just let them beat me and then I leave.

The only time taunting is acceptable to me is when playing Dan, because that's what Dan's for. He's got multiple taunts, for crying out loud. Why have them if they aren't meant to be used?

Honestly, from my experiences in Japanese arcades, it's the Asian players who pick me up off the ground after defeat for a long combo. I have mental scars from my Tekken 6 matches against a bare-chested Miguel that shot me in the face and juggled me until the game pulled him off. All the while, the player was grinning behind a SARS mask. Obviously, they enjoy it.

Taunting doesn't distract me enough to cause me to make mistakes, but I do think it's rude and an example of poor sportsmanship.

I don't agree with your last line at all. It's cool if you think that taunting is no big deal, but you're basically calling everyone who doesn't agree with you a whiner before they even have a chance to respond.

Personally, I wish there was still room for gentlemanly competition in video games. I think it's a shame that civility is thrown out the window because it's more important to win at any cost. I've never understood this mindset. I don't care if someone is better than me and defeats me. They don't have to be rude about it, though.

I don't know much about the taunting in Street Fighter, but the taunting in TF2 is an important part of the game - that is why it has its own button. But once you press that button you become vulnerable for the duration of the animation, so there is a risk to taunting. 

As far as beating on your downed opponent after the fight, well that is just not polite!

Also, you should have gone into depth concerning the risk/reward factor of taunts, and not just the "I'm going to get hit if he swings while I do this" factor. 3rd Strike gave you stat bonusses for successful taunts that changed some character's games entirely. Art of Fighting had you using taunts to steal energy to perform special moves and stuff your opponent. Tekken 6's Bryan Fury gets a whole bunch of extended combos that are only possible after a successful taunt.

Taunting in game? Yes, I respect it as a tactic to distract your opponent. Maybe even bait considering you can cancel you taunt in SFIV in nearly every way. In Blazblue, it's a calculated risk: can I throw my opponent off their game? Gotta be careful though, cause once I taunt, I commit to it. No canceling the animation.

But post-round smacks? I hate them on a personal level. At this point, I think a normal human being would hold out his hand and say, "Good game," or even in our digital world, "gg".

A post-round attack is the equivalent of a slap in the face for a greeting. Maybe in more relatable terms, it's like goddamn teabagging from Halo. YOU. ASSHOLE. Maybe not as harsh, but the vindictive spirit is there.

Personally, I back dash, or in the case of SFIV, I focus-attack-dash-cancel backwards. I want to give my opponent the sense that I respect the game and give their unconscious body room to breathe.