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.