[oclug] How does that saying go?

[Robert Brockway]

On Thu, 17 Jun 2004 todd.clattenburg at sdc-dsc.gc.ca wrote:

> Diverse perspectives and being open to them is an essential component
> of learning and progress.

While I agree with you (and this is a response to the rest of the thread
so far as well) it has been my experience that discussions on mailing
lists/Usenet all too often degenerate into personal attacks.  Overall I
find discussions with people in real life (when differences of opinion are
present) far more useful than discussions online.  I think the difference
is that many people do not provide others with the same level of respect
in a written medium than they do in a spoken one.

I believe that if more respect was shown then more people would be
prepared to join the discussions and the level of the discussions would
improve.  If this position is at all questioned go back and read a few of
the longer threads seen on this list over the last few years.  Snipes at
others are common.  Do you see people speak to each other that way in real
life?  I do not, they show more respect.

Rob

-- 
Robert Brockway B.Sc. email: robert at timetraveller.org, rbrockway at uqconnect.net
Linux counter project ID #16440 (http://counter.li.org)
"The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens" -Baha'u'llah