On May 17, 2005, at 2:30 PM, Erik Reuter wrote:
* Julia Thompson ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
All the posts I read that have someone dismissing someone else's words/arguments as "malarkey" or "hogwash", I'm automatically discounting some.
So if you are trying to persuade *me* of anything, me being a particular spectator of debate here, that tactic is costing you.
Well, this statement is costing you. Since there are a number (which has increased lately) of people here who ARE posting a heck of a lot of baloney, some people are correct when they point it out. Since you are apparently discounting people who are correctly pointing out nonsense, as well as those who may not be, you are painting with too broad a brush. So you lose points with me. Just for the record.
Perhaps a price worth paying: some points are worth more than others.
If I act in a way that causes someone that I and the list hold in high esteem me to discount, disregard or disrespect me, then I have lost valuable points. I try to learn.
If I act in a way that causes someone that *I* discount, disregard or disrespect to tell me that I have lost points with them, so what?
If I act in a way that causes someone that the list discounts, disregards or disrespects to tells me that I have lost points with them, then I consider that my overall list-worth has gone up.
I consider that people who point out the nonsense *in-an-argument* do us all -- including themselves -- a favor, but that those who merely call names or dismiss others or their arguments as stupid, inattentive, low signal-to-noise, and so forth *** without addressing that which makes the critic find them so *** do nobody a favor.
p.s. I also consider it to be extremely rude to publicly announce who's in a killfile, so if you want my continued respect at the same level, I'd appreciate you not informing me of that on-list.
By the way, I have been deleting unread a number of whiners and nonsense
spouters' emails (not automated kill file, at least not yet). Guys (you
know who you are) feel free to pile on here and whine and exchange
nonsense. Maybe it will occupy you enough to stop distracting the few
remaining people who are interested in reasonable discussion. But
probably not.
Of course not. I mightn't agree with your definition of reasonable discussion, nor am I likely to classify the same things as whining and nonsense that you do. In fact, I wouldn't classify anything that is posted in earnest that way: It's just not how I think.
Dave
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