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Subject:Humor, or manners impaired? From:"Knox, Phebe" <pknox -at- CADMUS -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 20 Dec 1995 09:47:53 EST
Garrett Romaine wrote a thoughtful and interesting post from
Donna's thread about this list being humor-impaired. I've
seen some good humor; I'd say the problem is that it is
politeness-impaired. It's so easy for a list to drift that
way! Internet posts are like driving in a car: It doesn't
feel as though there are real people at whom one is shouting
imprecations and gesturing with middle fingers -- just
machines on the road. Cars DO have real people in them,
though, with feelings that can be hurt, and so does the
Internet.
Garrett, what do you mean by "avoid getting flamed off" of a
list? My take on it is that if a list drifts too far into
casual rudeness, the smarter people on it simply leave. If
the list has value, we should try to avoid that.
