From: Kennita Watson (kwatson1@home.com)
Date: Tue Apr 29 1997 - 08:39:53 MDT
At 10:53 29/04/97 +0200, user=A0108 wrote, for whatever reason:
>>> >PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE.
>>>
>>> LEAVE ME ALONE
...
To which ard saw fit to reply sarcastically:
>> Huh? Could you please repeat that?
>>
With the result that the whole list was treated to
>>I SAID
>LEAVE ME ALONE LEAVE ME ALONELEAVE ME ALONE LEAVE ME ALONELEAVE ME ALONE
>...
for his trouble.
This is an excellent example of why I almost never use sarcasm. I've
virtually never seen it work as well as honesty, especially on people who
are already pissed off. In cases such as this one, either ignoring the
emotional outburst, or posting (or better yet emailing privately) a message
such as "Please don't spam the readers for the sins of the writers.", or
even posting to the list a genuine expression of frustration that people
make such outbursts in public, would likely have been preferable.
There is little or nothing to be gained by venting frustration or annoyance
with such barbs (people have been shot for even less; fortunately that's
unlikely here). I'm not sure there's much to be gained from my posting
this message, either, but I feel like I have to try because I'd rather
live in a world where people didn't resort to such heavyhanded (in the
one case) or backhanded (in the other) rhetorical devices. I can only
hope that because I wrote this, one or more people will think twice, go
get a drink of water or whatever, and decide to make a more constructive
post than they otherwise would the next time they are provoked or upset.
Now off to go do what people pay me for, which somehow doesn't seem as
important as this....
Kennita
Kennita Watson | The bond that links your true family is not one of blood,
kwatson@netcom.com| but of respect and joy in each other's life. Rarely do
| members of the same family grow up under the same roof.
| -- Richard Bach, _Illusions_
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