Posted by Adam Quinan on December 08, 2005 at 01:26:17 from 72.136.51.111 user Adam.
In Reply to: Re: Industrial Heritage (was Lydia Eva - was Re: Silting of the Yare)-the whole question of Ransome posted by Peter H on December 07, 2005 at 20:45:48:
I am also a long term member of a similar but e-mail based list about Patrick O'Brian, who is not a children's writer. I should think that the amount of digression on that list is equal to or greater than that on Tarboard.
I have seen tempers being lost, trolls excoriated and other nasty things happen there too. But in general, this list and that are quite comparable in terms of etiquette, pleasantness etc. And, this is important, both are generally much better mannered than some other boards and lists I have tried and abandoned in disgust.
On that list it is easier to take abuse and offensiveness private by replying just to the offender's e-mail which is not always possible here as not everyone posts an e-mail address.
So my answers to Peter are
1. There are a certain number of people who will be ruder to you over the Internet than would ever do so face to face just because they don't feel the social pressure to be polite.
2. Communication over the Internet is inherently less effective than either conversation face to face or by telephone or pen and paper; in one case because feedback is almost immediate and offence can be detected and corrected if unintended and in the other case because people generally sit and think (and maybe cool down) before committing a letter to the post. E-mail or Internet posting encourages the instant response but doesn't receive the intant feedback which allows misunderstandings to be corrected before the rancour develops.
3. I don't think that this Ransome forum is any better or worse than other similar fora despite being about a children's author.
4. Finally, just because someone shares one like or dislike with you, it doesn't mean that they are the same as you. You may love Ransome and spinach whereas I love Ransome and find spinach to be a fate worse than death. We could get on fine on Tarboard, but never on a Popeyeboard. However, many people forget this and take liberties which would never be considered apropriate in a face to face meeting.