Sounder mailing list etiquette and future direction

[Ari Torhamo]

la, 2009-12-05 kello 10:08 -0500, Steve Furbish kirjoitti:
> Ari Torhamo wrote:

> > There's no public place where "anything goes" - and I'm glad of that. I
> > agree with the need to do something to the problem. Those few who are
> > causing the problem try to make this a question of freedom, or say that
> > other people just have thin skin or that more strict rules would choke
> > down creativity. Almost no one here wishes for that kind of "creativity"
> > and most people don't want a thick skin to be a precondition for
> > subscribing to these mailing lists. 
> >
> > -Ari-
> >   
> OK, so how about those of us who think that people should be responsible 
> enough to choose to ignore those posts that bother them rather than 
> respond to them or complain about them. 

It's indeed good to be able to ignore the kind of unpleasant behaviour
we are talking about here, but some times it's difficult. Some people
are just so good at provoking others. A little distortion of facts here,
a little distortion of words there. If you really want to push a good
conversation off the rails, there are thousands of ways to do it. And
that tends to make others angry. Then you can blame them for bringing
hatred into conversation. Don't forget to use some nice and polite words
here and there: that way those who are not following the conversation
closely don't know who's the "good guy" and who's the "bad guy". 

> The existence of this entire 
> thread suggests power and control issues more than anything else. 

There are many ways to exercise power and control. I think I described
one above.

> Ignore 
> the mean people and you'll be much happier - ban them and you just make 
> Sounder a little bit boring.

Some of these "problematic people" can be quite funny. That's not
surprising: when you are good at playing with words, you can use that
talent to say funny things. But we don't run out of jokes if we exclude
abuse, provocation and hurting others from our repertoire. There are
many people who are both respectful and funny at the same time. 

I don't need other people to be "mean" to be entertained and I don't
need others to get bashed not to get bored. 

-Ari-