Erik Reuter wrote:
>
> On Sat, Oct 19, 2002 at 10:01:14AM -0500, Dan Minette wrote:
>
> > I'd like to ask a question about general rules of politeness.
> > From what I've seen in a number of places, people are suppose to
> > publically divulge the contents of private emails only with the
> > explict permission of the sender.
>
> I think the best comparison is a conversation. If you had a one-on-one
> conversation with the person, would you feel comfortable with repeating
> that person's words to a group of people in a public place? My answer to
> that would be: it depends. As does the answer to your email question.
As a general rule, I believe that private conversations should be kept
private, unless consent has been given by all parties to make it more
public.
I think it's rather rude to drag an off-list exchange onto a list
without the permission of all parties involved. However, I don't think
it's anywhere near as bad as repeating in an official meeting something
that employee X said about employee Y in a non-work social setting, just
for comparison. But in both cases, people may start losing respect for
the person doing the unauthorized relaying.
It is my belief that discussions taken off-list should be kept off-list
until such time as all parties involved agree it should go back
on-list. If there is a disagreement in progress, the person dragging it
all back into public view mid-discussion comes off as a jerk that day,
IMO. If someone does this once a year at most, it's not so bad, but
repeated instances lower *my* opinion of the person who makes a habit of
it.
Julia
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