Topic: Questionable Off Color Comments

I did not want to disrupt running threads with this, but I felt that it should be pointed out.

I feel that it is counter productive to allow posts to become simple degradations of another member. Although another member might have an idea or position that is contrary to the disposition to either a majority or a minority this should cause personal attacks against said member.

When these types of attacks occur this community suffers as a whole. This might cause others who see this to abandon this community, or question if they should post for fear of a similar attack against themselves. Some level of constraint should, in my opinion, be used in cases where tempers are high for the benefit of this community at large.

Such actions against another member of infrequent, and often (again my opinion) deserved, however effort should be taken to recant what is seen as ignorant comments with something with substance rather than quick self indulgent retorts. Anyone who has been on the other side of the fences during a debate with Twitch [wordnerd] would know how much more powerful this type of rebuff can be.

Thank you for your time,

Dan @ Code Town

On the other hand, sometimes such comments are not the result of high-tempers, and have nothing to do with self-idulgence (in fact, the method you suggest sounds much more self-indulgent to me...) and are simply saying exactly what you mean - and there is no point in speaking if you are not going to say exactly what you mean.

IMHO
FWIW

I am more concerned with the vulgarities and not the content.

I would like to read what you mean, you can be as succinct as you wish to be, but points can be made without the vulgarities which tend to show less meaning, and leave more to the imagination than other more appropriately placed words.

Dan @ Code Town

"appropriate" and "vulgar" are very subjective terms....

I seem to recall Doc very intentinally leaving allowance for the words that many would call "vulgar".

Again - sometimes those are the words that fit.

~shrug~

Agreed DL, such words depend entirely on the listener/reader's intent when hearing them.

If the listener/reader is intent on being incensed by words, then almost anything one says may be taken askance.

Such reaction and interpretation to good, honest, earthy anglo-saxon language, speaks much more strongly about the listener/reader than about she who speaks/writes them, IMNSHO.

Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right.
Isaac Asimov
US science fiction novelist & scholar (1920 - 1992)