From: "Gary Nunn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > > Yup, Mark has basically resurrected the List Guidelines discussion by > > trying to see if we would let someone deliberately try and make our > > community unlivable and let him or her get away with it. > > So far, he seems to be "succeeding". > > JDG > > I probably don't have to point this out to the parents on this list, but as > with children, if you reward their bad behavior with attention, they will > continue to behave in such a way as to continue getting attention. If you > want Mark to stop, then stop rewarding his behavior with the comments and > discussions. He will eventually get bored with nobody responding. Actually, his pattern of behavior is a not so much that of a child, but a sadist. He isn't out for attention, he wants to set off fireworks and see how people react, and he seems quite pleased with this ban/free speech argument that has arisen from his actions. He wants to see people react in a negative way. That's why, after posting that message with my hypothesis on his motives, I stopped posting in the ban/free speech discussion. Mark apears to *want* that. His reaction to the ban/free speech discussion among other posts has revealed that he wants people to be offended and get all heated because of it. If you play back to him on his offensive posts and act unaffected, *that* appears to bother him, because he is not getting the desired result, and he tries to step up the offensiveness of his posts in order to try to get the desired results. Just don't let what he writes bother you, and joke about (make light of) what he says without lowering your own posts to his level, and he will lose interest and hopefully, eventually give up. Ignoring him entirely should have the same results, however, but I honestly think getting the oposite reaction of what he is hoping for bothers him more than people ignoring him. Michael Harney [EMAIL PROTECTED] We do not inherit the Earth from our parents; we borrow it from our children. - Native American Phylosophy
