This Mailinglist - another vote for sanity

[CB]

On Wed, 2005-01-12 at 21:42 -0500, Michael Scottaline wrote:
> I honestly don't give a fig one way or the other which way this issue
> is resolved.  I can work with either method (I subscribe to lists that
> do each).

It's not that important, perfectly true. 

>   And I don't mind a good, [i]occasional[/i] flame war.

It's funny though how people give themselves permission to be ruder than
they ever would be in the flesh, and mask the fact under netologisms
like 'flame war'. Actually I often do mind so-called 'flame wars'. A
reasonable standard of social behaviour has always been expected in all
groups, throughout the 50,000+ years of human history. I don't accept
that hiding behind a monitor grants anyone an exemption.

>   But
> I really get bothered when these types of debates degenerate into ad
> hominems.  

I don't *think* I was engaging in an ad hominem tactic. I thought I was
straying slightly off the topic, in making the point that posters here
don't have the right to bandy 'stupid' around, and shout and stamp their
feet just because someone disagrees with them. I'm pretty sure that
there's even an Ubuntu charter somewhere that explicitly warns against
rudeness when disagreements arise.

This whole topic is generating far more heat than it merits, for sure.