Posted by name on December 31, 2000, at 13:13:24
In reply to Re: Wrong supposition, posted by r.anne on December 31, 2000, at 3:17:31
The board administrator suggested further postings by "concerned" after a thread discussed ambiguity of the administrator's definition of civility. When "concerned" took the bait, the administrator insulted "concerned's" interest, saying instead that there was no interest, and infering that "concerned" had violated widely accepted standards of civil behavior. The reference to civic institutions, such as courts or legislative bodies, and to other media outlets, and to a previous post by Hsuing established that rhetorical devices, such as generalization and hyperbole, are commonly considered civil and that even Hsuing uses them to support ideas he favors.
Some people seem to readily grasp the arbitrary and subjective rules paraded here as "civil," perhaps because the rules are arbitrated to favor those peoples preferences. Others are more accustomed to the more commonly accepted standards of civility in use in everyday situations. Many of those people have been alienated, and have become unwilling to discuss thier interests here. The board administrator seems to have made a game of bouncing those people off this board, and cavalierly refuses to provide a more accurate definition of his subjective standard, even though most other similar sites have provided detailed guidelines. Many consider confronting such a game to be kind, supportive and educational. It is simply a matter of who we are kind to, of who we are supporting, and about which ideas we are providing educational information.
As for the suggestion, "Why don't you go work that anger off that you are displacing here. Good luck and try working on yourself," the basis of the statement is "why don't you go," which is answered in the above paragraph, and the suggestion that one try working on oneself is actually a statement that one has not, which is an incorrect assumption, and a thinly vieled personal affront. Perhaps you might consider that other motives than displaced anger promote contribution here.
> For one thing this is not a court or a trial-this is a message board for administrative issues. Court trials get awfully judging, harsh, cruel and even emotionally abusive and you can also apply that to what that person was saying. This web site attracts many people because it helps them and there is a proper way to handle yourself by having respect for the board owner's house rules of being kind and cival toward all. Why don't you go work that anger off that you are displacing here. Good luck and try working on yourself.
poster:name
thread:124
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20001124/msgs/142.html