Help!!! There's someone on an e-mail mailing list whose last two postings over the last couple of days have been aggressive and rude. I'm hanging on to the edge of my chair trying to stop myself from posting a *gentle* reminder about keeping courtesy in threads and mailing lists but I know - see my Zen philosophy offering above - that I should just sit tight, shut up and wait until he/she gets tired of throwing flames (almost typed "flowing thrames" - it's a bit hard typing while simultaneously hanging onto one's chair :-) ) and then decides to find someone else to harrass.

Please, just keep reminding me of all the times that responding to deliberate discourtesy in cyberspace has resulted in making the flames grow higher and nastier. If I can just hang on for another couple of days the compulsion to take action will probably die down.

Oddly enough, a second mailing list I am on has also had a flamethrowing event in the last few days. Maybe it's something in the air, the position of the stars & planets, or something?

P.S. I just thought of a coffee mug motto - something to the effect of: "stress - the body's natural reaction to suppressing the urge to strangle the living **** out of someone who desperately deserves it"

Helen