Now: SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (was Re: It's legal now)

[tberk at sbcglobal.net (T Berk)]

Lars Bruchmann wrote:
> who pissed in your wheatties???  lighten up, i guess
> you are the list nazi, oh, sorry, Nazi.
<snip>

Lars.

I am one of those people he didn't name. If not fully, I am certainly 
borderline, my apologies List.

But Lars, you have singled yourself out, and I take you to task in the 
game we like to call: 'Whack-a-Mole'. (The point being that it's the 
mole who pops out of his hole that gets whacked.) Nothing personal, 
you're just a handy example.

But really this is for Everyone. (Think Gary Oldman in 'The Professional'.)

OK,

- Top Posting. (I could go on but it stands on it's own.) This'll become 
a Holy War so lets just move along, shall we? 
<http://www.google.com/search?q=netiquette>

- Not editing/snipping the rest of the thread.
Besides the laborious trouble it becomes to keep the threads tidy there 
are people who subscribe to the list in Digest mode. One email each day 
with EVERY post smashed together. Lets think about what our unedited 
posts look like to them.

- One line replies(a) They almost get lost in these long, unedited replies.

- One Line Replies(b) And they sometimes hold very, very, little 
Content. And a lot of the time I'm not even funny.

- Interpersonal Chattiness and Thread Drift. Like the List Nazi said (It 
was _his_ turn to be the LN), we often get to acting like it's a party 
line, and take the conversation off into LaLa Land. Pity the newbie who 
must often feel like the 1st day at High School and doesn't fit in with 
the Cool Kids and doesn't have the personal & institutional memory to 
get the In-Jokes. And can't get much help with the given problem.

I've been around since the Second Wave (ooh, bad analogy) since around 
18 months after the list went live. I have seen em come and seen em go, 
sitting here by the Stage Door. Lots of them have bitterly vented as 
they beat feet towards the door that it was too much noise to signal and 
to hell with that.

We have done better, we can be great again. Every so often we need, and 
get, a hipcheck into the boards. Don't take it personal. In fact Don't 
Respond- that would be a great follow up. Think about it awhile. Do the 
right thing as you see fit, keep your eyes and ears open and mouth 
(fingers) shut and be a good example to the next guy.


TBerk
It's going to be Hard, but Hard is Good.