X-Message-Number: 16876 Date: Wed, 04 Jul 2001 22:37:27 -0400 From: Deathist Lurker Girl <> Subject: R-E-S-P-E-C-T Dear fellow cryonet readers: I would like to make a comment or two about the Trygve Bauge situation. Significantly, this is the first time I'd ever seen our host, Mr. KQB, coaxed from his cozy lair of laissez-faire-edness so I know this issue is a biggie. I've seen verbosity here, and I've seen off-topicness, but this takes the proverbial cake. And to make matters worse, Mr. Bauge responds to his host's very valid criticisms with admonitions to *fit the mail list to his [Bauge's] needs* instead of vice-versa. Imagine the following scene, if you will: Mr. Bauge comes to visit Mr. Kevin Q. Brown at home. Mr. Brown drives a compact car and has a narrow driveway. Mr. Bauge arrives in a Humvee, parks in the driveway, proceeds to Mr. Brown's front door, and rings the bell. Brown (opening door): "Good evening, Mr. Bauge, nice of you to drop... (Brown looks past Bauge, and notices the Humvee in his driveway)...uh... Mr. Bauge, I couldn't help but notice that your vehicle overlaps my driveway by two feet on either side!" Bauge: "Yes, you should see about getting that widened." Brown: "You're on my grass!" Bauge: "Quite. But a superior strain of lawn cover would recover from that assault nicely. Perhaps a replanting with a lush turf of Festuca arundinacea would be in order. I'll mail you a seed catalogue." [Bauge steps past an incredulous Brown and enters the house] Brown (looking down in horror at his carpet): "Mr. Bauge! You've tracked mud onto my new carpet." Bauge: "I don't know what you were thinking when you chose that light beige color! A charcoal gray or taupe tweed would show the dirt less. Is it Scotchgarded? If not, it should be. I'll expect you to have that corrected soon." And...welllll.... I can stop here. You get the idea. Participants in a mailing list are guests of the moderator(s). They don't do any of the work to keep the list running, but they are able to reap the benefits. If a moderator asks you to obey a set of rules which are the same for all participants, it's not censorship. It's a request for some basic respect. Any one of us could set up his/her own free mailing list, bulletin board, or website at any time. In that sense, we all have a "voice" that cannot be silenced. I am all for Mr. Bauge being able to advertise links to his website and forum (set up by Mr. Potvin), but while he's posting *here*, in cryonet, which is someone else's domain, he needs to mind his manners and follow the moderator's guidelines. As far as posting private email publicly goes, I think it's a breach of etiquette (minor or severe, depending on the content of the message) even though it's not legally actionable. If I email you privately about a sensitive matter and you blab it to the universe, I'm not going to write you anymore. I'm not going to trust you. I'm not going to assist you in your endeavors. The fact that it's not "illegal" has nothing to do with it. Breaking wind or picking one's nose in public aren't illegal, either; but if you do those things, you'll find that not very many people will wish to remain in your company. <aside to Trygve Bauge> Trygve, I tried to read your web page but it crashed my browser three times before I gave up. It would be a lot more accessible without 50 little popup windows. If you wish to include advertising, banners are less distracting. Not that I'm telling you what to do. I'm just sayin'.. </aside> And now for something *completely* off topic: I feel like I need an air raid shelter to dive into right now. Here in Michigan, fireworks (except for the ultra-wimpy type) are illegal; but you'd never know that by looking out my window. I *was* going to go outside and grill some chicken kabobs, but am reconsidering that plan. Maybe I'll wait till the "shelling" stops ;-) Goodnight, y'all... from the Deathist *Former* Lurker Girl (how's *that*, Louis?) Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=16876