Re: WOT: McCain Political Ads


KMK wrote:

And I've been using newsgroups since the days of Compuserve. So what?


Sorry, but this isn't Compuserve. I was on local bulletin boards on
a vic-20 before the Commodore 64 came out. A couple times a week, the
sysop would dial long distance to the next town and transfer messages.


My name is my name. I'm nto "hiding my identity". OTOH, I twice received
email harassment, and death threats from someone who didn't like that I
said "I used to be a victim, back when I was a child - but now I'm an
adult, and I choose to not be seen as a victim, but just as a person".


I've had them to, but I don't care. one was on this newsgroup, and
the other was a bipolar character who refuse to take his medicine. He
not only e-mailed death threats, he called my church and made threats,
the called the local sheriff's office to file false charges. that cost
him his internet service, but Oregon wouldn't lock him up, or put him
under a doctor's care. i still use my real name and E-mail address. If
I get crap from someone, I use Mailwasher to delete it before it hits my
mailbox.


So that's why I don't post my email. If that automatically makes me a
"troll", well, all I can say is that, in the past several years, you're the
first person who has ever accused me of being a troll.

If you want to killfile me, that's your right. It wouldn't exactly be the
end of my life if you did - and frankly, after this rather less-than-
delightful exchange, I've been considering killfiling you - which is my
right. It's pretty much the same thing as me saying I have a right to not
buy and read Soap Opera Digest or the National Enquirer - if I prefer
"Science" magazine and the WSJ, I have the right to buy and read those
instead. If someone chooses to come at me out of the blue, as did krw,
with nastiness, hey, all they are is words on my monior , and I can choose
to not put them up, not read them.

THat's not being rude, it's merely the choice that everyone has. Just
becasue someone chooses to hurl baseless insults, that doesn't mean anyone
else is in any way obligated to read the stuff.



By the same token, people who see all the hints of a troll have the
right to suspect your motives, until you prove yourself otherwise.
There has been too much crap around here to automatically accept every
new name as salt of the earth, and knowledgeable. That was why the
basics group was created, to separate the two groups.


I'm new posting here. You can make no valid statement re: whether, or for
how long, I may have lurked.


Goggle shows less than two months activity on the group, and that is
what people will see. They can only judge you by what they see, and
that is what time you've been posting. That's just how things are. It
was different two years ago, but a group of trolls did their damnedest
to destroy the group. You should look at the rec.radio and amateur
radio newsgroups if you want to see a little of what it was like.



OK, I was thinking of these definitions:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/snipe
"1: any of various usually slender-billed birds of the sandpiper family;
especially : any of several game birds (especially genus Gallinago)
especially of marshy areas
2: a contemptible person"
With definition 2 derived from
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/snipe
"2. A shot, especially a gunshot, from a concealed place."
Hence, "sniper" - and although it takes an incredible amount of skill to be
a sniper, as well as a huge amount of courage due to working behind enemy
lines so often, there remains a derogatory implication in many uses becasue
of the hidden nature of the sniper.


These days the term 'snipe' refers to automated bidding software for
online auctions. I have never heard the term snipe confused with
sniper.


I didn't go hunting with my Dad because he used it as his alone time (he
also, it turns out, had Asperger's). All I learned was target shooting,
and nature photography. So the idea of "hunting the snipe" had a very
different meaning to me, than what you inten


No big deal, you admitted the mistake. :) I learned to shoot a 22
rifle in boy Scouts, on of my dad's 22 pistols on the family farm in
Kentucky. Then uncle Sam handed me the M-16, M-60, M-72 and some
grenades that I had to qualify with.


So mea culpa, I misinterpreted your reference. Does the same never, ever
happen to you...?


Yes, but I admit it, crack a dumb joke and go on with life.


OK, I'll work on being better at editing.,


Thank you. I doubt you have an idea how hard it is for some people to
read with the small fonts available, without using HTML. That will
cause all hell to break loose on most newsgroups. :(



I can understand that, believe it or not, but I didn't think I was
exhibiting "attitude" and I still don't accept that I deserved such poor
treatment. I don't mind if people tell me when I mis-speak or communicate
poorly - I need that, because *because* people like me don't have any
social instincts. You can call it "kid gloves" (as below) if you want, but
me, well, I just call it "not being a passive punching bag".


Several people asked you to proofread and spell check, and you said
no. As for myself, I had a palsy in my right eye three months ago, and
am just starting to be able to see out of my good eye in the last couple
days. They said it will probably be three more months before I can rely
on that eye.

A lot of people have a limited time to spend on USENET, and the
harder it is to read someone's message makes it less likely that you'll
get an answer you can use.


That is also why I at least do try to address statements or behaviors, as
opposed to making ad hominem attacks, becasue I *know* that I all too often
misinterpret behaviors, and also becasue I know that someone isn't
necessarily "stupid" merely becasue they disagree with me. I also know
that other poeple don't like being attacked any mroe than I do. You can
call it "kid gloves"(again, as below) if you want, but me, well, I just
call it "implementation of the Golden Rule".

What I do mind is being called stupid, and/or having false accusations made
regarding my fundamental character. OTOH, I think that probably everybody
minds that - you included. I *try* to not respond in kind, because it
makes me as bad as the attacker, but I'm just as human as anyone, and
sometimes act in frustration. If that is "attitude", well, then *everyone*
has it.


Yes, and this group has to put up with a lot of crap from trolls and
rude, fly by posters. After a while people get very tired, and point
it out, or ignore the poster.


<?> I've seen folks there who have humor. I've also asked questions
there. Nor is it "all smiles and hugs". I've never come across a group
that is "all smiles and hugs" - although I have been in groups where poeple
have at least some ability to be civil.


Like this newsgroup, there are people there who ignore the rules. A
couple European and a couple Australian trolls do their best to piss off
everyone they can. Right now it is overrun with clueless individuals
who insist that they know everything, and think every bit of science and
physics is wrong, because they are infallible. No matter how politely
you try to point them to information to show their mistake, and how to
correct it, you get more crap, till everyone gets fed up. The one
screaming about how to save farming was doing the same about electric
cars a few months earlier. No doubt he will be back with more crap.
Whenever threads are cross posted to troll newsgroups you can be sure it
will evolve into lots of arguments.


I see, so simple common civility and discourse is now "kid gloves", whereas
"accepted and expected behavior" is name-calling and ad-hominem attacks.


No, but you have to realize that there are people who live to
destroy. Subscribe to news:alt.usenet.kooks and it will open your eyes.
They brag about the damage they do, hijack threads and don't give a damn
who they affect.


Well, I'll tell you what, even if that is the "modern" way, it doesn't mean
I have to stoop to it. Even I have been able to learn, over the past 50+
years, that people respond much better to somepne who says "please" and
"thank you", than they respond to someoen who spits in their face and/or
cusses them out. But hey, if you call that "kid golves", that's your
choice - just as it's mine to feel rather sad for you and <gasp!> maybe
even say a prayer for you.


There is more attitude, but like everyone else,, you can say whatever
you want. the question is why, if you are so upset with people taking
you to task, you would bring it up? It just makes it look like you want
to pick a fight. Also, you are the only one on the group over 50. I'd
guess that most of us are.



What skills are required to make comments about politics or global warming?


None whatsoever. That's why they do it here, than on the proper
newsgroups, where they would have their heads handed to them by people
who know what is going on.


As for skills, I have never, at any time, represented my self as anything
other than a learner. Several people have been quite generous with their
time in answering questions I've had and, as far as I'm capable of
discerning, I have *never* given them "attitude" - quite the opposite, I
have been, as far as I can tell, respectful and polite.

As for "a lot of attitude": I don't engage in the all-too-common actic of
ad hominem attacks, however, I also don't just passivley submit to being
harangued or badgered or clawed at - I dunno, maybe you consider that
"attitude", which is your perogative, but I don't.

As for "no one takes you seriously", a few folks said they find at least
some of what I've said interesting, so I don't think you speak for
everyone. I therefore can only conclude thatyou're ostensibly doing so
merely becasue you are trying to frighten me away. To be honest, I know
what it's like to go about one's job knowing that a real sniper's sight
might be on one - so sorry, but some silly judgemental newsgroup post
doesn't frighten me. Mostly, I find this sort of thing boring and
tiresome, and I'm too old to piddle away my time on boring stuff. I'd be a
heck of a lot better off slapping some BenGay on the knees etc. and
spending the time on the elliptical trainer, or swimming. Which actually,
is a good idea, since the rain seems to have stopped.


At least you can. I need a cane to stand up, and most types of
exercise are impossible for me. Old age isn't for sissies! ;-)


Adios.


Later, Tater! ;-)

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