Subject: Re: ...and even for those _NOT_ interested...
From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.net>
Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 13:58:41 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
Message-ID: <3199701518572260@naggum.net>

* Alain Picard
> Sheesh... talking about character assassinations...

  It may in time serve you well to spend the effort to understand that
  _you_ have chosen to make this a personal issue.  I was referring to his
  his comments and their consequences.  You apparently think this is a
  character assassinations.  May I suggest a more _rational_ approach?

  If you _think_ you see "character assassinations" when _do_ see an
  argument about the consequences of someone actions, I must assume you,
  too, have zero understanding of the need for a legal system, which, if
  you read anything other than that which inflamed you, was the gist of my
  message.  Your very personal message had nothing to do in a public forum.
  It would perhaps have counted for something if we were having a character
  witness day here on USENET.  However, despite the urgent need of a few
  people to think that is what the Net is all about, the _idea_ that is at
  least _attmpted_ communicated to those who are not so inclined is that by
  posting personal experiences with a desire to make them look general, you
  destroy the possibility of dealing with people as individuals.

  It is not a character assassination to argue that if you have business
  with someone and as a consequence find that business a matter of the
  public record as presented and understood by only one party, it is a very
  good idea to avoid having business with that someone until and unless you
  are very, very certain that that someone will refrain from posting
  hurtful information in public forums.  I am so _thrilled_ that you have
  to prove this point by showing that doing business with _you_ also means
  that one will see it posted all over the Net, instead of dealing with it
  in a professional manner.

  Since people _do_ make mistakes, and good people work to correct them,
  some mischievous or malicious person can selectively inform the public of
  the mistake and withhold the attempt to correct it, just as a mischievous
  or malicious person might choose not to correct a mistake that hurt
  someone.  Since we are inherently unable to know about such a case and
  information lives forever on the Internet, otherwise good people who feel
  they have been screwed, may decide to take revenge and screw people back.
  The perception that you have been screwed and treated unfairly is highly
  personal and if you are a professional, you deal with professionally, not
  by posting your personal experiences in the guise of general conduct.

  Some people do not understand the difference betwenn public and private
  and between personal and professional.  In general, such people are a
  danger to other people, because they will hurt someone's professional
  sphere, i.e., their livelihood, for personal reasons over which nobody
  has any control.  If you do not understand the difference between
  personal and professional conduct, and when each is appropriate, the best
  course of action is actually to shut up until you learn that difference.

#:Erik
-- 
  Travel is a meat thing.