Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!uxc.cso.uiuc.edu!tank!shamash!nic.MR.NET!ns!logajan
From: logajan@ns.network.com (John Logajan)
Newsgroups: news.newusers.questions
Subject: Re: To flame, or not to flame...
Message-ID: <1590@ns.network.com>
Date: 22 Aug 89 00:29:48 GMT
References: <20393@sequent.UUCP> <1584@ns.network.com> <2203@uw-entropy.ms.washington.edu>
Organization: Network Systems Corp. Mpls MN
Lines: 31

charlie@mica.stat.washington.edu (Charlie Geyer) writes:
> No those are not the real Net Gods, who are mostly very polite.  Those
> are the Net Bozos, who sometimes pose as Net Gods to fool you.

A matter of terminology.  The requirement for being a Net God is to proclaim
yourself one.  This is most assuredly NOT to be confused with those people
who actively carry out the hum-drum housekeeping tasks associated with the
net. (Although there does seem to be some voluntary crossover :-)

> You will not be successful and will look foolish in the attempt.
As depressing as this statement is, I am afraid it is all too true.
You simply cannot mount a logical defense against flaming that anyone
will bother to read throughly.  They will, through sloppy reading,
misinterpret, ignore key points, invent meanings and otherwise pamper their
prejudices.  

To engage in a battle against flames is to draw all these initially
uninvolved "helpers" into a thousand little battles against you.

My favorite (so to speak) tactic of these "helpers" is to launch into a
public rebuttal of whatever it was you said, and then concluded with the
statement, "Can we just let this issue drop now!"

Wouldn't it have been nice if THEY had dropped the issue a couple of
paragraphs earlier.

Oh well, there'll never be a sanctimony shortage on this net.

-- 
- John M. Logajan @ Network Systems; 7600 Boone Ave; Brooklyn Park, MN 55428  -
- logajan@ns.network.com / ...rutgers!umn-cs!ns!logajan / john@logajan.mn.org -