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Subject:RE: Spaces after periods 'n such From:"Porrello, Leonard" <lporrello -at- illumina -dot- com> To:"Julie Stickler" <jstickler -at- gmail -dot- com>, "Technical Writing" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Tue, 2 Nov 2010 09:33:07 -0700
Odd that you decided to post our discussion to the entire list after the conversation had been taken off-line.
Nevertheless, here's the thing. There was no name calling or "incivility," and so your censorious comments do nothing but unnecessarily stifle discourse on Techwr-l. That is what I objected to. At worst, one of the posts written in response to Lauren could have been interpreted as being patronizing. But the tone of that email is one that I have seen Lauren herself use on several occasions--and more to the point, she didn't seem to notice or mind! In short, your message seems to indicate that you expect everyone on Techwr-l to kowtow to your personal interpretation of civility. Sorry, but no. I too think civility is very important, and it seems to me that while contributors to Techwr-l are sometimes pedantic and curmudgeonly, they are very rarely uncivil.
But perhaps I didn't read the thread closely enough and missed the "name calling." Can you show me what you are talking about?
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+lporrello=illumina -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+lporrello=illumina -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Julie Stickler
Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2010 7:55 AM
To: Technical Writing
Subject: Re: Spaces after periods 'n such
No, really I I have no ideaology to defend. I was just a little tired
of being insulted by proxy for my typing habits.
My comment was a call for civility, not a political statement.
I apologize if anyone thought I was personally attacking them when I
asked that people please stop calling other people names on the list.
If a desire for civility on the internet makes me insecure, then I am
guilty as charged.
On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 12:34 PM, Porrello, Leonard
<lporrello -at- illumina -dot- com> wrote:
> LOL. Yes, of course you are right about the sanctimoniousness of my
> comment.
>
> Nevertheless, I think the comment was inappropriate in at least two
> ways. Apart from making the discussion personal (focused on persons
> instead of ideas), Ms. Stickler tried to get one up on her ideological
> opponents by accusing them of committing a moral fault (unless I am
> completely mistaken and Ms. Stickler thinks being sanctimonious is a
> good thing). This takes the a discussion on double-spacing--which apart
> from being mundane is absolutely amoral--to a moral level. If this were
> a discussion of whether Lauren is a good person, I could see how a
> meta-discussion on the perceived sanctimoniousness of posters could
> arise. Otherwise, give me a break; keep your personal issues and
> insecurities to yourself.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tim J. Slager [mailto:TSlager -at- isdcorporation -dot- com]
> Sent: Monday, November 01, 2010 9:13 AM
> To: Porrello, Leonard
> Cc: Julie Stickler
> Subject: RE: Spaces after periods 'n such
>
> Nah.
>
> By this logic, what's even more annoying than people who sanctimoniously
> criticize other people for
> being sanctimonious is people who sanctimoniously criticize people who
> sanctimoniously criticize other people for being sanctimonious.
>
> IMO, it was an appropriate observation.
>
> tims
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+tslager=isdcorporation -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+tslager=isdcorporation -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com]
> On Behalf Of Porrello, Leonard
> Sent: Monday, November 01, 2010 11:21 AM
> To: Julie Stickler; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: RE: Spaces after periods 'n such
>
> And what's even more annoying than the "sanctimonious" tone of
> single-spacers are people who sanctimoniously criticize other people for
> being sanctimonious.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+lporrello=illumina -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+lporrello=illumina -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
> Behalf Of Julie Stickler
> Sent: Friday, October 29, 2010 2:33 PM
> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Re: Spaces after periods 'n such
>
> On Fri, Oct 29, 2010 at 5:21 PM, Combs, Richard
> <richard -dot- combs -at- polycom -dot- com> wrote:
>> Exactly right. The only reason that "this discussion comes up
> frequently" is because, no matter how overwhelming the evidence and
> impeccable the logic on the other side, the proponents of two spaces
> refuse to acknowledge that they're wrong, repent, and mend their ways.
>
> What is irritating about this topic (and this thread in particular) is
> the sanctimonious tone that people are taking. The OP on this thread
> (at least in my G-mail inbox) was a proponent of single spaces, who
> then went on to jump down the throat of Lauren when she essentially
> said, "I do what the style guide calls for." Did I miss the post
> where someone said that double spaces were correct? Really, must
> everyone be so insulting about this? It's one little empty space for
> crying out loud.
>
> I type two spaces not because I think it's the right thing to do, but
> because I've got a couple decades of muscle memory that I'm just not
> going to fight against. Spell check catches and corrects my extra
> spaces. And I can live with that. Y'all can stop flinging around
> nasty names for double spacers any time now. I'm starting to develop
> a complex over here. =(
>
>
> --
> Julie Stickler
>http://heratech.wordpress.com/
> Blogging about Agile and technical writing
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
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