Posted by PeterH on August 28, 2006 at 11:21:36 from 86.130.132.118 user Peter_H.
In Reply to: Re: What People Post (or should or shouldn't!) posted by Prue Eckett on August 28, 2006 at 05:42:39:
What was that about over-brief follow-ups?
(Attempt at humour – LOL, LOL)
I’ll make a serious response to Kathy, as I have also stuck my neck out about Tarboard lately. I suspect I am implicated in her remarks, as I see I am quoted by her. With regard to the ‘read all 12’ problem, I have already explained my own position so I won’t repeat it, but I would very much regret it if I had put anyone off joining TarBoard. I should have used clearer language first time.
‘Friendly insults’ and ‘jokes’. I agree that ‘in-jokes’ can be off-putting, and should not be overdone. However, they are very much part of normal conversation (in my experience anyway), and it would feel repressive to me not to be able, eg to pull Jock’s leg a bit occasionally (and get mine pulled in return). I hate to say this, Kathy, but I think this is all part of ‘men behaving badly’, and is it really so bad?
‘I think . .’ (when expressing an opinion) – yes, I agree, and I always try to do this. I have also started using ‘IMHO’ (‘in my humble opinion’).
FAQs – this is always a problem. I cannot see anything wrong with politely directing people to the ‘FAQ’ pages on the AR Website, if their query is one that comes up very frequently. Otherwise, the questioner may, as you say, be ignored because 1) the long-serving Tarboarders have discussed the matter many times before, and 2) the newer participants don’t know the answer. I have lost count of the number of times we have discussed the death of the Amazons’ father. I simply have no enthusiasm at all for going through it all again, and I suspect others don’t either. A good FAQ site solves this problem.
Frivolous answers – I totally agree with you.
Thank you, Kathy, for setting out your thoughts, and I hope everyone will at least consider them. I certainly will, despite my nitpicking above. Just two general thoughts of mine, though, both seeming to me of huge importance:
1) We all have different characters and ways of expressing ourselves. I think it would be a shame if these variations and idiosyncracies were totally suppressed. If you work in a busy office, you learn to tolerate everyone as best you can – some characters you take to, some you don’t. On Tarboard, I appreciate greatly the wide range of postings, from Ed’s comprehensiveness to Jock’s dry brevity. The buzz-word in the UK at the moment is ‘diversity’.
2) Do not under-estimate the blight that can be caused to a discussion forum by a ‘troll’. They really are an awful nuisance and get everyone tetchy, and then bickering starts. Kathy – could I ask you and everyone not to leave to a few of us to deal with a troll, but join in yourself, one way or the other? Turning away from the problem doesn’t really help the situation very much.
Talking of turning away, I think that the saddest words in the whole of the Ransome canon are these, in ‘We Didn’t Mean, Ch IX . . .’
‘Look the other way’, said Titty [when Susan was going to cry]
Perhaps that was just the time when Susan might have needed a little love? BTW, I have always thought, until I read Kathy’s post, that ‘LOL’ meant ‘Lots of Love’. Thank goodness I’ve wised up on that – could have got me into trouble.