[oclug]List Police

[Milan Budimirovic]

On Thu, 2003-01-23 at 20:39, Shad Young wrote:
> Well Milan, you are of course entitled to your opinion. But trying to
> legislate etiquette is impossible (and perhaps insulting as I don't
> appreciate being dictated too). If you don't like the posters style,
> don't read the message.
>

No one is dictating to anyone. "Etiquette" simply defines what is
considered good manners on this list.

 
> I dunno, but I define respect somewhat differently than you I suspect. I
> doubt I would respect someone who makes their living writing if they had
> poor grammar, but I respect the opinion of my plumber, even if he is
> incomprehensible.
> 

It's not the same thing. I don't consider it an issue at all if someone
genuinely does not have good command of the English language, or has
some sort of disability. It's when someone just can't be bothered to put
forth the effort that it gets irksome.

> Getting annoyed at a poster doesn't hurt the poster, it only hurts you
> (you are the one annoyed). If the poster doesn't care about his/her
> credibility - who cares? Does it "effect" you? No. If it "affects" you,
> well who owns that problem? You, not the poster. Only you are
> responsible for your emotional well being. Nobody else.

Well, Shad, you're the one who is always saying that the Linux community
should embrace the rest of the world. But guess what? There's an awful
lot of people out there who equate all Linux advocates with the Slashdot
crowd. It's a real problem, whether you want to see it or not. At a
certain point you have to put your foot down and tell people to grow up,
because these juvenile posts reflect badly on the entire list, and the
entire community.

> Life is so full of rules why add more? Exercise your freedoms... hit
> delete, set up filters, or add me to your kill file, I don't care.
> Lighten up, life is too short. Frankly I am surprised you guys don't
> have better things to do than worry about other people's style on a
> mailing list.
> 

Actually, we do have better things to talk about, but this is something
that requires attention.