From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of TurquoiseB Sent: Friday, September 07, 2007 3:12 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Civil Speech and Behavior
The easiest way -- and in my opinion the most effec- tive way -- to deal with people whose language or whose intent or whose actions or opinions piss you off is to IGNORE THEM. If they've established a history of getting under your skin, JUST DON'T LET THEM. This is what I do, and have suggested several times as a solution. I like this suggestion from New Morning: “I do however support, in the guidelines, a ban on profanities hurled against someone. But not used for emphasis -- ocassionally. Thus "You F*ckhead!" would be against the guidelines. "Thats f*cking awsome" -- used occasionally, would be OK.” What do others think of this? Part of the issue is, where do we draw the line? If one of our participants were black, and others were hurling racial slurs at him, I think we would all agree that those people should be censored or banned. Same with gay bashing. These are now social taboos in our culture. But insulting people individually is not taboo, just poor manners. How civil do we want our little FFL society to be? Some valuable contributors have left because of the incivility. You say, “I would *not* advise any form of "moral guidelines" here, because they would be subjec- tive and by definition imposed upon those who don't agree with them, and they would force Rick or the other moderators to become "cops." I would not wish that on them.” And I keep expressing the same sentiment. You also made the point that one can be nastier without using expletives than another might be in using them. Bob Brigante responded to my initial post in this thread with, “Piss off, you idiot.” However Bob meant it, I interpreted that as a friendly, funny response. Taking any sort of action on this issue requires a subjective judgment, and I just don’t know if my subjectivity is objective enough to do that. I’m willing to try something, if there’s a consensus, but so far I don’t think there is. No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.485 / Virus Database: 269.13.8/993 - Release Date: 9/6/2007 3:18 PM
