ADMIN: Netiquette -- be nice...

[John Walton]

No: HPFGUIDX 15770

Yes, I know. Bit rich of me to be posting another ADMIN message so soon.
::chortle:: But this time I'm serious. ::flexes wand::

FFA's car thermometer is probably registering a bit of a cold spell right
now -- the list seems to be growing a tad icy and people seem to be taking
each other a bit literally.

TIME OUT!

Let's remember that this is a friendly group, containing people from all
sorts of backgrounds and with all sorts of life experiences. One of the
wonders of the World Wide Web is that we get to correspond with people who
we might ordinarily never 'talk' to in real life. One of the effects of this
is that other people's attitudes and mannerisms in conversation may be
different. 

However, one of the drawbacks is that we are communicating via text, where
there is no room for subtle nuance, no body language like a friendly wink to
show "just kidding", or "but you know I don't really mean that". Most of us
have taken to putting some sort of flag up (like "</rant>"), or signing off
with our mood "--John, tongue planted in cheek", that kind of thing.

Let's all take a bit of a chill pill and remember that if we're going to be
sending an email, we should check it. Not just for misspellings and typoes
(although that's certainly important) but for possible misconstruances,
mistaken meanings etc. We should also be vigilant for these when *reading*
messages -- what at first sounds like a dire insult might just be somebody's
normal way of speaking, which doesn't translate to text well.

Basically, be nice. And now I'll return to my modem-bashed, baby-sitting,
being-drawn-and-quartered-by-turtles (!?) state.

--John, Moderator With Rock #47