>On 2/11/02 @ 12:35, Eric L. Strobel wrote:
>
>Does your locality have a noise ordinance?? In my
>neighborhood, I've got the freedom to play music in
>my backyard or car, but if I crank it up too loud, I
>infringe on my neighbors' freedoms and society inflicts
>a certain level of punishment for that.
>
>So, perhaps what we need is a cyber-noise ordinance? ;-)
<<<<This is a long one, you've been warned...>>>>>
You make a good point Eric.
But you have to be very careful with censorship.
For example, using your case, what if neighbor A plays music that you
like, but plays it a bit loud vice neighbor B who plays music that you
detest, and also plays it loud.
Do you call the police or whomever in both cases? I would hope so. But
human nature is to strike out against those whom one does not agree with.
On this list for example, I made a mistake with my "Food for Thought"
message. I forgot the [OT] marking. Oops, I screwed up. Should I be
banned from the list? I already dropped and gave the list 20 and one for
the Airborne god in the sky. So I hope that I've made amends!
Or how about Stephanie and her dissection of Furbie dissection? I feel
so sorry for those poor defenseless Furbies against a crazed woman with a
screwdriver or worse! Or how about Woo and his way too large collection
of Newts?! It's not fair -- No one should have that many! Or how about
those monotonous Emate discussions! Hey, I only want to hear about Newt
2100's! Then again, there are those folks who post in French.
Unbelievable! (BTW, for those who don't understand me, these examples
are pure off the wall attempt at humor used to illustrate my point.
Personally I enjoy hearing about Furbie dissections, the newest thing
that Woo does with his Newts, and about the Emate. And as for French, I
find it fun to see how much I can remember since the last time that I
studied it was a very long time ago. But that's just me. Maybe others
don't.)
The point is that we are a community made up of folks that for some
reason enjoy the Newt family of devices. Our community is comprised of
individuals with varied backgrounds from around the world. What a rich,
diverse and wonderful group.
As part of our diverse community, we even have some who like to get the
last word in. You know, the ones who rant and rave about a poster/topic,
then say that they are finished with the list.
Or how about those who implore others to stop replying to adverse
messages, but add a dig of their own with their reply -- but expect no
response?
Yeah, sometimes we have individuals that can be a pain in the as_, but
then again, what family/community doesn't.
Are we all always going to agree with each other's opinions? Nope.
Heck, even husband and wives/best friends have times when they upset each
other, or get on each other's nerves.
Do those who care about each other let emotions get the best of them at
times. Yep. And that's when the name calling starts. We've just seen
it here, unfortunately.
Some have been so bold as to state they don't care what anybody else on
this list thinks...but yet they reply...interesting to say the least.
But we've seen some good with the bad. Killfiles and filtering have
become known to some.
Even Robert choose to not read all the offending posts -- great news! :-)
Others have found the delete key as well, and now know how to use it with
zest! :-)
I am not sure that a charter/manifesto is needed for this board. This
board has tended to police itself fairly well. Let's not clutter it up
with all kinds of rules. Rather, let's all be adult in our exchanges.
Then 6 months to a year down the road, if there is a need for a
charter/manifesto, then we do it at that time. Victor can unsubscribe us
all, then we can resubscribe with the requirement to abide by the new
rules -- or whatever method is needed to ensure that we all concur with
the rules of the board before we can become a member and post.
With out OT messages, we might miss interesting discussions such as the
recent one concerning "Looking for cheap ISP" introduced by Laurent. Or
we might miss discussions about Mac OS X, rootbeer/beer, Furbies, math
qualifications, Olympics, 911, different desktop OS'es, NUG meetings,
visiting friends in other countries, vacation plans, trips to Akihabara,
etc. introduced by others.
I for one, would hate to have a list that is so regulated that all of the
discussion was limited to the Newt alone. Besides, the OT topics reveal
a bit of the person to the board. They become more than just a screen
name.
BTW, FWIW on other boards that I've been on, banning a person does not
get rid of them. They merely resubscribe under a different screen name.
Granted we are a bit smaller than the average board, but this might be an
additional pain for Victor to monitor and police.
Let's keep the list as it is for a while, say 6 months, and see what
happens...meanwhile everyone take a deep breath and count to 10, 100, go
work out, or bite your lip as the case may be, before replying to a post
that disagree with, upsets you or happens to push your hot button.
With all this food for thought, I'm getting hungry! :-)
Respectfully,
Sushi
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