Re: Dave Cinege and Paul Wade
At 09:02 AM 8/23/97 -0400, you wrote:
>> My first suggestion for the charter would be that profanity should not be
>> tolerated: no matter whom it comes from.
>
>Just English profanities or those of any language? Who's going to maintain
>the list of forbidden words? Not only is that ridiculous, I find it
offensive.
O, come on! There's been a _____long_____ tradition of mutual respect and
courtesy in fairly _public_ Internet communications. There is a wide
diversity of taste, backgrounds, preferences, sensitivities. The purpose of
discouraging profane language, I think, is so that persons who do not enjoy
its use and would otherwise have something to contribute to the continuing
discourse, will not be discouraged from doing so.
I personally don't enjoy any profanity in public discourse. That's personal
taste, although I know it may raise accusations of prudishness. But I find
that abusive language rarely helps any difficult situation.
Whatever happened to netiquette? There are numerous examples of
"appropriate" deportment in the various introductory articles on various
newsgroups. As I say, I think these expectations are generally understood
and honored. If a person wants to do otherwise, let him/her go private or
find a 'flame' group, where the expectations are different. At any rate, I
don't think there are any 'unspoken' rules in this regard.
I think Jim Pick's idea of _not_ responding, even to 'correct' someone, is
an excellent approach. The volume of messages (including this one, I guess)
on this topic has been incredible, compared to 'user' concerns.
Cheers
Vernon Hamberg
System Software Programmer
Old Republic National Title Insurance Company
400 Second Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55401
(612) 371-1111 x480
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