01-13-2009, 05:29 PM
I don't like to get involved in these types of exchanges because they tend to have a lot of personality and emotion rubbed well into them. But, against my better judgement...
By its very nature, a forum is a two dimensional place where only the two dimensions have meaning. There is the initiating dimension and the reciprocating dimension. The initiating dimension can have two forms...petitioning and offertory. (That means asking or seeking in the former sense and laying out for others to take or leave in the latter sense.)
Neither of these dimensions can exist by itself for the whole, the forum, to have any value or meaning. In other words, there has to be an interchange, not unlike the proto railroads we model. At the same time, it is not demanded of any one of the participants taking either dimension to act as they must in order to complete the transaction(s) necessary for the forum to have its intended purpose...and meaning. None of us is compelled to do anything, including logging in every day. (We'll forget the rules of conduct for now...they lie outside my message).
We exchange information, including that we can make little or no sense of what a poster has written. Would that exchange not suffice? Why go on to attribute negative characteristics and flaws in a person's character, upbringing, learning, or state of health (physical or mental) solely on the basis of what they contribute to the forum? Why challenge a person out in the open when a private inquiry might make your own contribution to the exchange more helpful? More to the point, is the forum meant to be unidimensionally you or is it bi-dimensionally we? If you find that an obsruction of some kind, an impediment or defect, is getting in the way of your good will to be truly helpful, does pointing out the defect with an assignment of blame augment your intent to help? I would think not. Instead it serves to aggrandize the person criticizing at the expense of the asker who is in need of assistance. Far better to politely ask for clarification, or to use stronger terms in private exchanges off line, than to post where everyone can see that you are offended by what the person has left for all to read.
The civil thing to do is to not be disagreeable when disagreeing with something you see...otherwise you are the proberbial kettle that won't appreciate the delicious irony apparent to more objective onlookers. Seek clarification, ask for an illustration, or request other words.
To me, thinking the worst about someone is easy to do. It is the failure in reason that leads to all bias, which in turn leads to errors in assumption, which eventually breed bigotry and ill will, not the good will needed for this forum to flourish.
Thanks if you read through all that.
-Crandell
By its very nature, a forum is a two dimensional place where only the two dimensions have meaning. There is the initiating dimension and the reciprocating dimension. The initiating dimension can have two forms...petitioning and offertory. (That means asking or seeking in the former sense and laying out for others to take or leave in the latter sense.)
Neither of these dimensions can exist by itself for the whole, the forum, to have any value or meaning. In other words, there has to be an interchange, not unlike the proto railroads we model. At the same time, it is not demanded of any one of the participants taking either dimension to act as they must in order to complete the transaction(s) necessary for the forum to have its intended purpose...and meaning. None of us is compelled to do anything, including logging in every day. (We'll forget the rules of conduct for now...they lie outside my message).
We exchange information, including that we can make little or no sense of what a poster has written. Would that exchange not suffice? Why go on to attribute negative characteristics and flaws in a person's character, upbringing, learning, or state of health (physical or mental) solely on the basis of what they contribute to the forum? Why challenge a person out in the open when a private inquiry might make your own contribution to the exchange more helpful? More to the point, is the forum meant to be unidimensionally you or is it bi-dimensionally we? If you find that an obsruction of some kind, an impediment or defect, is getting in the way of your good will to be truly helpful, does pointing out the defect with an assignment of blame augment your intent to help? I would think not. Instead it serves to aggrandize the person criticizing at the expense of the asker who is in need of assistance. Far better to politely ask for clarification, or to use stronger terms in private exchanges off line, than to post where everyone can see that you are offended by what the person has left for all to read.
The civil thing to do is to not be disagreeable when disagreeing with something you see...otherwise you are the proberbial kettle that won't appreciate the delicious irony apparent to more objective onlookers. Seek clarification, ask for an illustration, or request other words.
To me, thinking the worst about someone is easy to do. It is the failure in reason that leads to all bias, which in turn leads to errors in assumption, which eventually breed bigotry and ill will, not the good will needed for this forum to flourish.
Thanks if you read through all that.
-Crandell