Once again I'm learning in Hanna's wake. I'm glad you asked this.

If it's any consellation (probably not), I've been rude with this in the past, without really realizing it.. First I always said "вы ", but after a couple of times of being told to stop being so formal, i got used to ты and fell into a bad habit of using it all the time. With strangers, online and such.. probably offended whole hosts of people.. and why? Same old mindset - I came with my pre-conceived notions of what is proper.. =) Thanks for the lesson friends..