X-Message-Number: 16866
Date: Wed, 04 Jul 2001 02:51:21 -0400
From: "Kevin Q. Brown" <>
Subject: Poisoning the Well

"You get only one chance to make a good first impression."

First the bad news...

Cryonics has a poor public reputation not because most
people are stupid and benighted but because it is a
poor product.  Freezing still causes enormous injury
and its only saving grace is that the alternatives,
burial and cremation, are so much worse.  We cannot
guarantee that a cryopreserved person never will be
revived, but we can guarantee that a buried or cremated
person never will.

Now the worse news...

In the absence of a good product (human cryopreservation),
any positive regard for our efforts requires that we
demonstrate a viable program toward improving and perfecting it.
But recent exchanges on CryoNet illustrate how to destroy
the opportunity for any good will that could arise from such
efforts.  Normally I don't pick on any single poster,
but in this case we have such a ready-made example that I
cannot resist.  As the "Typical Reader Response" below shows,
starting with a poor choice of messages "poisons the well";
any positive merit in subsequent messages is irrelevant as
the reader already has written off the writer.  Similarly,
the more cryonics is associated with nutcase / kook / flake /
goofball cases, the harder it will be for the _good_ work
to be appreciated.

    Kevin Q. Brown
    

--

CryoNet Msg   Typical Reader Response

T.B. msg #1:  On, No!  He's at it again!  Another rotting
              corpse to rescue.

T.B. msg #2:  Anyone who writes entirely in UPPER CASE
              is seriously warped.  Why is he so excited
              about this hopeless case?  Oh yeah...

T.B. msg #3:  Move over St. Jude!  Cryonics now has its
              _own_ patron saint of lost causes!
    . . .

T.B. msg #12: ... and poster boy for "rescue disease".

    . . .   skip messages   . . .

T.B. msg #35:  It just keeps on coming!

    . . .   skip messages   . . .

T.B. msg #48:  Whoo!  Whoo!  Record breaker!  Master Blaster!
               In CryoNet's nearly thirteen year history,
               nobody else has achieved such voluminous output.

    . . .   skip messages   . . .

T.B. msg #74:  Is he actually writing all this material now or
               is he recycling old material?  Does it matter?

    . . .   skip messages   . . .

T.B. msg #91:  No, he wasn't misbehaving when he posted private
               email to CryoNet, because he has his _own_ rules
               for social conduct.  Somebody remind me never to
               get near this guy!

    . . .   skip messages   . . .

T.B. msg #115:  Isn't T.B. a disease and isn't it contagious?

    . . .   skip messages   . . .

T.B. msg #127:  neurotic = you have a problem that bothers _you_
                psychotic = you have a problem that bothers _others_

    . . .   skip messages   . . .

T.B. msg #144:  Will this ever stop?  It's hard to find the
                messages I _want_ to read.

    . . .   skip messages   . . .

T.B. msg #153:  Oh, he says that some of his messages have useful
                information in them.  Then why did he encourage
                everyone to skip them by posting so much junk in
                the beginning?

    . . .   skip messages   . . .

T.B. msg #178:  Something must be done about this!

    . . .   skip messages   . . .

T.B. msg #203:  Hey, has the CryoNet administrator been asleep
                the past week?  What's _his_ problem?

--

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