BS: Internet Posting for Dummies

Subject: BS: Internet Posting for Dummies
From: GUEST,Ma'am
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 08:44 AM

1) Don't be afraid to let someone off the hook. Just because you've proven someone else wrong doesn't mean you need to press the issue until you've received a full written apology and oral sex. Let it go.

2) Don't be afraid to back off your position. No one can know everything. Sometimes someone will come along and be better versed on a subject then you are. Don't let your ego stop you from learning something new.

3) Avoid personal insults. They do nothing for a discussion.

4) It is ok for someone to disagree with you. No, really.

5) No opinion, no matter how substantiated by facts, is beyond reproach. Don't think yours is special.

6) People have bad days. Don't fly off the handle because someone is being rude or grouchy. Seeing a rude post isn't a green light to reply rudely.

7) You only see text, but it's a real person that wrote it. Don't abuse the anonymity of the Internet to post replies you would never do in a face to face conversation.

8) If you have something to say on a matter, say it honestly. Don't attempt to spin it to put it in a more positive light. It is easier to defend honesty then to defend a position that wasn't really yours to begin with.

9) Don't be afraid to post. If the responses are crude or reek of elitism, that is their fault. Apologize for attempting to learn something and move on.

10) Don't be afraid to not post. There is no law requiring you to post. If you are getting upset over an issue, don't reply until you've given enough time for your emotions to calm and you can post clearly.

Subject: RE: BS: Internet Posting for Dummies
From: greg stephens
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 08:49 AM

11 Don't split infinitives.
12 Don't post offensive school-teachery stuff criticising people's grammar, spelling or punctuation.

Subject: RE: BS: Internet Posting for Dummies
From: Skipjack K8
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 08:56 AM

Isn't that peoples', Greg? *BG*

Subject: RE: BS: Internet Posting for Dummies
From: Midchuck
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 08:57 AM

I disagree with #6.

I am not a Christian. Therefore, I have no obligation to turn the other cheek.

I have every intention of being civil to anyone I speak to, in person or on the net, as long as he/she is civil to me. Once a person decides to be uncivil, continuing to try to be polite is just labeling yourself a victim.

Of course, you also have the option of just ceasing to communicate at all, which is often the most logical step.

Or so it seems to me.

Peter.

Subject: RE: BS: Internet Posting for Dummies
From: greg stephens
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 09:13 AM

Skipjack 's posting is total b*ll*x. Not: Skipjacks' posting is total b*ll*x.
"Peoples' postings" would only be right if replying to someone who said something like "The postings from Kurds, Native Americans and Tajiks are always badly spelled".

Subject: RE: BS: Internet Posting for Dummies
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 10:07 AM

Ma'am, I like those rules. I assume the apology mentioned in item 9 would be an ironic one. Irony is better than a full frontal counterattack, but surely people who sincerely want to learn something don't need to apologize for that.

May I add to your list?

Don't assume you've won an argument just because you've outlasted the opposition. Maybe your obnoxiousness has driven them away rather than the clarity of your logic. Most people don't see the benefit of beating a dead horse.

Good discussions don't have winners and losers anyway. In a good discussion, everybody wins because everybody learns something. Gracious people show gratitude for what they learn.

People rarely learn anything against their will. Wisdom coated with sarcasm is a bitter pill that hardly anyone will swallow.

It is said that the wise person learns more from the fool than the fool learns from the wise person. "Them that's got shall get..."

Consider posting only ONE message per discussion/argument, and make it a carefully considered one. Then wait and see what happens. If people want to hear more from you, they can ask. If nobody asks, that alone should tell you something.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to hear someone say, "I wonder what [insert your name here] thinks about this?"

Subject: RE: BS: Internet Posting for Dummies
From: katlaughing
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 10:08 AM

"People" denotes more than one person, so, for singular it should have been "person's."

Subject: RE: BS: Internet Posting for Dummies
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 10:31 AM

Kat's wrong, Greg is right.

Subject: RE: BS: Internet Posting for Dummies
From: Skipjack K8
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 10:39 AM

I didn't think I was right

Greg

Subject: RE: BS: Internet Posting for Dummies
From: Declan
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 11:21 AM

People is a collective noun, which is in the singular.

Now around here if you were going to visit Tommy or Siobhan yould be going to Peoples's and if you were going to visit Niamh you'ld be going to Parsons's. And if your going to a session in Dublin it my well be in Hughes's.

Subject: RE: BS: Internet Posting for Dummies
From: Genie
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 11:28 AM

Greg, violations of the "never split an infinitive" rule are something I refuse to get upset over! ;-D

Subject: RE: BS: Internet Posting for Dummies
From: wysiwyg
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 11:29 AM

Midchuck,

Turning the other cheek is not just for Christians, and it's not about obligation anyhow-- it's about what works in practical terms to keep a group of people in communication instead of pulling them apart because being the communication has become so nasty no one want to be talking anymore. So what the non-Christian world calls this is, perhaps, "Let it go" and "don't sweat the small stuff" or "don't take someone else's opinion so seriously and personally that you get your panties in a wad."

Not because you OWE it to the other person but becuase life seems to go better if we sometimes give better than we get.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Internet Posting for Dummies
From: Genie
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 11:30 AM

I mean, those violations are
"rule are something I refuse to ever get upset over! ;-D

I also think the rule about not ending a sentence with a preposition is something to not get too bent out of shape about!

;-D

Subject: RE: BS: Internet Posting for Dummies
From: Jeri
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 11:48 AM

I'd say it's acceptable to occasionally split an infinitive.

Rule number 0:
Try to stay on topic and answer the question someone actually asked instead of the one you'd rather they'd asked. These things could happen. Who knows, even I might be able to pull them off one day.

If everyone were to follow all of the rules in the first post, I believe that we'd have world peace and then the world would end in a fiery cataclysm.

Subject: RE: BS: Internet Posting for Dummies
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 11:56 AM

There once was a young man from Alabama visiting New England. On a whim, he decided to visit the campus of Harvard University. While there, he decided he wanted to visit the library so he stopped a passing Harvard student and asked him, "Can you tell me where the library's at?" The Harvard student replied, "At Harvard, we do not end our sentences with 'at'." So, the Alabama guy rephrased his question, "Well, could you tell me where the library's at, ass-hole?".

Bruce

Subject: RE: BS: Internet Posting for Dummies
From: katlaughing
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 12:31 PM

Declan, I've checked several sources and cannot find "people" listed as a collective noun. I did find this definition:

n. pl. people

Humans considered as a group or in indefinite numbers: People were dancing in the street. I met all sorts of people.

A body of persons living in the same country under one national government; a nationality.

pl. peo·ples A body of persons sharing a common religion, culture, language, or inherited condition of life.

Persons with regard to their residence, class, profession, or group: city people.

Subject: RE: BS: Internet Posting for Dummies
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 12:49 PM

I'll add this one:

Don't waste your time picking the flyshit out of the pepper.

Bruce

Subject: RE: BS: Internet Posting for Dummies
From: Declan
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 12:52 PM

You're right Kat. Sorry for sending you off throught the dictionaries to prove it.

If it was collective the correct form would be People is stupid, but obviously People are stupid is more correct.

The way I learned it at school, as far as I remember, people was the plural of person. The word "persons" seems to be a more recent usage. In any event I still think greg stephens' apostrophe was correct.

This gets confusing - if people is already plural how can it have a plural, and yet phrases such as the peoples of many regions are in widespread use.

Anyway as I say my favourite Peoples are the ones from Donegal and Clare.

Subject: RE: BS: Internet Posting for Dummies
From: katlaughing
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 01:13 PM

Well, Declan, it got even more confusing when use of "peoples" became acceptable, I think it was in the 70's or 80's. No need for apologies; I love looking this kind of stuff!:-)

The way I've always heard it, peoples possessive would have the apostrophe after the "s." However, the other day, I think it was here, I read that we should now write a possessive of a surname which ends in "s" as this example: Hess's, which may be applied to peoples also, I presume, making Greg right, too? At any rate it's a new one on me!

Thanks!

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Internet Posting for Dummies
From: Declan
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 01:28 PM

On further reflection I think the apostrophe after the s only applies to words which take 's' in the plural. For example I think it was always the men's room but the boys' room (where there was more than one boy).

With regard to the apostrophe after the names ending in s, in Dublin we always used apostrophe s even after an s so we get the example of "Hughes's" that I gave above. However we were always corrected for this and told the correct form was "Hughes'". I suppose these things change over time.

Subject: RE: BS: Internet Posting for Dummies
From: Duane D.
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 02:21 PM

"school-teachery stuff" is bad grammar

Subject: RE: BS: Internet Posting for Dummies
From: greg stephens
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 02:58 PM

I wonder what Jim Dixon thinks about this?

Subject: RE: BS: Internet Posting for Dummies
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 03:31 PM

13. Don't take offense to someone's post. That person's sense of humour may be more twisted than yours.
14. Most importantly, quoting an exerpt from someone's public post is acceptable, quoting an exerpt from someone's private email message without permission is not acceptable and should be considered a VIOLATION OF TRUST.

Subject: RE: BS: Internet Posting for Dummies
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 07:31 PM

I'm always confusticated when talking about other people's/peoples' possessions. It has been a major, lifelong flustration for me.

But anyhow, might I suggest:

Post your own ideas on a subject, in your own words. If you must post information from another source, make sure you provide attribution. If it's lengthy, provide a link and don't copy-paste the whole damn thing.
(and if you post copy-paste information at Mudcat and it isn't music information or lyrics, Joe Offer is gonna delete it if he finds it)

Subject: RE: BS: Internet Posting for Dummies
From: harpgirl
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 08:34 PM

.01   never follow all the rules unless you want everything to stay the same and never change....