Oh! Okay, yes - we're actually on the same page.

If you accept service and fail to appear....that's different. Accepting service and responding with anything other than a motion to dismiss will also play into the plaintiff's hands.

Accepting service in an of itself though does not - it's what you do about it that matters.

I realize this is a different case, but I'd like to illustrate the point for the OP.

Plaintiff filed first, in Florida.
Defendant filed separate motion in Wisconsin.
Instead of Plaintiff filing motion to dismiss the Wisconsin filing, he went ahead and filed an answer instead, thus submitting to WI's jurisdiction. He also simultaneously kept filing in Florida and though jurisdiction SHOULD have been in Florida, he screwed up every time he answered the defendant's motions.

He ended up losing the jurisdiction battle for the simple reason that he didn't file to dismiss, but instead wrote War & Peace as his answer.

(It got worse, but that's the basic point)