As much ROFF as anything

Yeah, maudlin - sue me.

Ditto the sentiment. When we had the sniper down here in DC, I had
people from Mass to Montana offering a place for my family to stay.
This place, for all its failings and flames, is a family.
You may see me throwing humor in to some of these flame wars. Its my
nature. I grew up in an area with a serious tendency to violence and a
high murder rate. I've seen the same around the world in multiple war
zones. Alot of it was people refusing to listen or ignoring the basic
needs and consideration of others. "Its all about me" turns real ugly
real fast.
Then again, I like a tag line in alt.callahans:
Some people are offence kleptomaniacs -- whenever they see
an offence that isn't nailed down, they take it ;-)
--David C. Pugh, in alt.callahans
--
Frank Reid
Reverse Email to reply

Yeah, maudlin - sue me.

Ditto the sentiment. When we had the sniper down here in DC, I had
people from Mass to Montana offering a place for my family to stay.
This place, for all its failings and flames, is a family.
You may see me throwing humor in to some of these flame wars. Its my
nature. I grew up in an area with a serious tendency to violence and a
high murder rate. I've seen the same around the world in multiple war
zones. Alot of it was people refusing to listen or ignoring the basic
needs and consideration of others. "Its all about me" turns real ugly
real fast.
Then again, I like a tag line in alt.callahans:
Some people are offence kleptomaniacs -- whenever they see
an offence that isn't nailed down, they take it ;-)
--David C. Pugh, in alt.callahans
--
Frank Reid
Reverse Email to reply

Conan the Librarian wrote:
Ken Fortenberry wrote:
Mike Connor wrote:
snip
It may well be that we can´t all just get along. Assuming such to be the
case, then why are we all here? Just to waste time with absolutely
hopeless
"sounding-off"?

Exactly. It's fun, it's entertaining,

I'm probably going to regret this, but I am curious about that
statement. ...

Well, I find roff fun and entertaining but an enormous waste of time.
But being an enormous waste of time is a big part of why it's fun and
entertaining. I mean, I come here precisely because I want to take a
little break from the drudgery of wordsmithing and waste a little time.

... But the part I don't get is the veiled
(or sometimes, not-so-veiled) threats of physical violence ...

I absolutely agree. Besides being ridiculous, issuing threats of
physical violence is one of the things that is specifically
prohibited on virtually every ISPs Terms of Agreement. (You can
eliminate the vast majority of them that you see on roff just by
sticking Opie in your killfile.)

This is not directed (just) at you, Ken, but since you brought up the
idea of friends: It sure seems like a number of folks here have gone
out of their way to alienate any possible friends they might have had here.

There's very few folks here who could ever be a close friend of mine.
The overwhelming majority are decent enough fellows with whom I would
be happy to share a stream and a beer at some point and then there's
a very small few with whom I wouldn't want to associate under any
circumstances. Just like "real" life off of Usenet, right ?

Then what will you be left with?

Well, it'll always be an enormous waste of time, it's got that going
for it. ;-)

--
Ken Fortenberry

Conan the Librarian wrote:
Ken Fortenberry wrote:
Mike Connor wrote:
snip
It may well be that we can´t all just get along. Assuming such to be the
case, then why are we all here? Just to waste time with absolutely
hopeless
"sounding-off"?

Exactly. It's fun, it's entertaining,

I'm probably going to regret this, but I am curious about that
statement. ...

Well, I find roff fun and entertaining but an enormous waste of time.
But being an enormous waste of time is a big part of why it's fun and
entertaining. I mean, I come here precisely because I want to take a
little break from the drudgery of wordsmithing and waste a little time.

... But the part I don't get is the veiled
(or sometimes, not-so-veiled) threats of physical violence ...

I absolutely agree. Besides being ridiculous, issuing threats of
physical violence is one of the things that is specifically
prohibited on virtually every ISPs Terms of Agreement. (You can
eliminate the vast majority of them that you see on roff just by
sticking Opie in your killfile.)

This is not directed (just) at you, Ken, but since you brought up the
idea of friends: It sure seems like a number of folks here have gone
out of their way to alienate any possible friends they might have had here.

There's very few folks here who could ever be a close friend of mine.
The overwhelming majority are decent enough fellows with whom I would
be happy to share a stream and a beer at some point and then there's
a very small few with whom I wouldn't want to associate under any
circumstances. Just like "real" life off of Usenet, right ?

Then what will you be left with?

Well, it'll always be an enormous waste of time, it's got that going
for it. ;-)

--
Ken Fortenberry

Conan the Librarian wrote:
Ken Fortenberry wrote:
Mike Connor wrote:
snip
It may well be that we can´t all just get along. Assuming such to be the
case, then why are we all here? Just to waste time with absolutely
hopeless
"sounding-off"?

Exactly. It's fun, it's entertaining,

I'm probably going to regret this, but I am curious about that
statement. ...

Well, I find roff fun and entertaining but an enormous waste of time.
But being an enormous waste of time is a big part of why it's fun and
entertaining. I mean, I come here precisely because I want to take a
little break from the drudgery of wordsmithing and waste a little time.

... But the part I don't get is the veiled
(or sometimes, not-so-veiled) threats of physical violence ...

I absolutely agree. Besides being ridiculous, issuing threats of
physical violence is one of the things that is specifically
prohibited on virtually every ISPs Terms of Agreement. (You can
eliminate the vast majority of them that you see on roff just by
sticking Opie in your killfile.)

This is not directed (just) at you, Ken, but since you brought up the
idea of friends: It sure seems like a number of folks here have gone
out of their way to alienate any possible friends they might have had here.

There's very few folks here who could ever be a close friend of mine.
The overwhelming majority are decent enough fellows with whom I would
be happy to share a stream and a beer at some point and then there's
a very small few with whom I wouldn't want to associate under any
circumstances. Just like "real" life off of Usenet, right ?

Then what will you be left with?

Well, it'll always be an enormous waste of time, it's got that going
for it. ;-)

--
Ken Fortenberry

Ken Fortenberry wrote:

Conan the Librarian wrote:

I'm probably going to regret this, but I am curious about that
statement. ...

Well, I find roff fun and entertaining but an enormous waste of time.
But being an enormous waste of time is a big part of why it's fun and
entertaining. I mean, I come here precisely because I want to take a
little break from the drudgery of wordsmithing and waste a little time.

I understand that part well enough.

... But the part I don't get is the veiled (or sometimes,
not-so-veiled) threats of physical violence ...

I absolutely agree. Besides being ridiculous, issuing threats of
physical violence is one of the things that is specifically
prohibited on virtually every ISPs Terms of Agreement. (You can
eliminate the vast majority of them that you see on roff just by
sticking Opie in your killfile.)

To be fair, there have been a number of other folks involved in
either issuing threats or strutting around with their chests puffed out
playing "quien es mas macho".

And that still doesn't address the name-calling, which I see as
going hand-in-hand with the other stuff.

This is not directed (just) at you, Ken, but since you brought up
the idea of friends: It sure seems like a number of folks here have
gone out of their way to alienate any possible friends they might have
had here.

There's very few folks here who could ever be a close friend of mine.
The overwhelming majority are decent enough fellows with whom I would
be happy to share a stream and a beer at some point and then there's
a very small few with whom I wouldn't want to associate under any
circumstances. Just like "real" life off of Usenet, right ?

Yep. But just to use you as an example: If I'm not mistaken, you
have had an enjoyable time sharing a stream with some of the very folks
you are currently doing battle with. I expect opinionated folks to have
disagreements, but I don't see what purpose is served when that
deteriorates into juvenile namecalling or macho posturing.

The way I figure it is that there are enough assholes in "real" life
that it serves no purpose to come here to "escape" only to alienate the
folks with whom I share a common bond.

Then what will you be left with?

Well, it'll always be an enormous waste of time, it's got that going
for it. ;-)

Well there is that. :-)


Chuck Vance

Ken Fortenberry wrote:

Conan the Librarian wrote:

I'm probably going to regret this, but I am curious about that
statement. ...

Well, I find roff fun and entertaining but an enormous waste of time.
But being an enormous waste of time is a big part of why it's fun and
entertaining. I mean, I come here precisely because I want to take a
little break from the drudgery of wordsmithing and waste a little time.

I understand that part well enough.

... But the part I don't get is the veiled (or sometimes,
not-so-veiled) threats of physical violence ...

I absolutely agree. Besides being ridiculous, issuing threats of
physical violence is one of the things that is specifically
prohibited on virtually every ISPs Terms of Agreement. (You can
eliminate the vast majority of them that you see on roff just by
sticking Opie in your killfile.)

To be fair, there have been a number of other folks involved in
either issuing threats or strutting around with their chests puffed out
playing "quien es mas macho".

And that still doesn't address the name-calling, which I see as
going hand-in-hand with the other stuff.

This is not directed (just) at you, Ken, but since you brought up
the idea of friends: It sure seems like a number of folks here have
gone out of their way to alienate any possible friends they might have
had here.

There's very few folks here who could ever be a close friend of mine.
The overwhelming majority are decent enough fellows with whom I would
be happy to share a stream and a beer at some point and then there's
a very small few with whom I wouldn't want to associate under any
circumstances. Just like "real" life off of Usenet, right ?

Yep. But just to use you as an example: If I'm not mistaken, you
have had an enjoyable time sharing a stream with some of the very folks
you are currently doing battle with. I expect opinionated folks to have
disagreements, but I don't see what purpose is served when that
deteriorates into juvenile namecalling or macho posturing.

The way I figure it is that there are enough assholes in "real" life
that it serves no purpose to come here to "escape" only to alienate the
folks with whom I share a common bond.

Then what will you be left with?

Well, it'll always be an enormous waste of time, it's got that going
for it. ;-)

Well there is that. :-)


Chuck Vance

Conan the Librarian wrote:
snip
I expect opinionated folks to have
disagreements, but I don't see what purpose is served when that
deteriorates into juvenile namecalling or macho posturing.

All those other guys may indulge in juvenile name-calling
but my name-calling is inspired, devastating, razor sharp
and overwhelmingly effective. No juvenile could ever hope
to reach the lofty level of the name-calling craft that I
have achieved through many years of diligent and unstinting
hard labor. Juvenile name-calling, indeed. Harumph, sir.
Harumph.

The macho **** ? That's an overreaction to the umpteenth
repetition of an offensive woof by the putz. Sometimes I
just get sick and ****ing tired of it.

The way I figure it is that there are enough assholes in "real" life
that it serves no purpose to come here to "escape" only to alienate the
folks with whom I share a common bond.

Has someone alienated you ? Does that mean you have to have
green card now ? ;-)

--
Ken Fortenberry

Conan the Librarian wrote:
snip
I expect opinionated folks to have
disagreements, but I don't see what purpose is served when that
deteriorates into juvenile namecalling or macho posturing.

All those other guys may indulge in juvenile name-calling
but my name-calling is inspired, devastating, razor sharp
and overwhelmingly effective. No juvenile could ever hope
to reach the lofty level of the name-calling craft that I
have achieved through many years of diligent and unstinting
hard labor. Juvenile name-calling, indeed. Harumph, sir.
Harumph.

The macho **** ? That's an overreaction to the umpteenth
repetition of an offensive woof by the putz. Sometimes I
just get sick and ****ing tired of it.

The way I figure it is that there are enough assholes in "real" life
that it serves no purpose to come here to "escape" only to alienate the
folks with whom I share a common bond.

Has someone alienated you ? Does that mean you have to have
green card now ? ;-)

--
Ken Fortenberry

Conan the Librarian wrote:
snip
I expect opinionated folks to have
disagreements, but I don't see what purpose is served when that
deteriorates into juvenile namecalling or macho posturing.

All those other guys may indulge in juvenile name-calling
but my name-calling is inspired, devastating, razor sharp
and overwhelmingly effective. No juvenile could ever hope
to reach the lofty level of the name-calling craft that I
have achieved through many years of diligent and unstinting
hard labor. Juvenile name-calling, indeed. Harumph, sir.
Harumph.

The macho **** ? That's an overreaction to the umpteenth
repetition of an offensive woof by the putz. Sometimes I
just get sick and ****ing tired of it.

The way I figure it is that there are enough assholes in "real" life
that it serves no purpose to come here to "escape" only to alienate the
folks with whom I share a common bond.

Has someone alienated you ? Does that mean you have to have
green card now ? ;-)

--
Ken Fortenberry