Subject: Re: Understanding Erik Naggum
From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.no>
Date: 06 Oct 2002 16:17:05 +0000
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
Message-ID: <3242909825011560@naggum.no>

* Pascal Costanza
| I am not suggesting to treat people like children. I am suggesting that the
| "nice" approach ("Positive Feedback First") is more appropriate even when
| adults are involved. Please don't exaggerate my position.

  That /is/ treating people like children.

  If you start off telling a stranger that you like him as a person but
  would prefer if he did not do something he did, some people are actually
  deeply insulted by your misuse of personal relations.

  I guess the examples I gave did not quite register with you and you only
  saw a reason to talk about something entirely different, which of course
  is what happens when you have an open forum and people cannot focus, but
  try to understand how the following will be interpreted by adults who do
  not want to have personal relations with other people in a professional
  setting, please.  Here is what I said.  Please try to focus on what I say
  and not only on how you think and feel.  Thank you.

  However, it is more correct that I do not think being liked and accepted
  should take predence to technical matters /in a technical forum/.  It
  would be inconceivable for me to say "I like you as a person, but you
  post misinformation about Common Lisp in comp.lang.lisp".  I think that
  would be about as likely as a stock broker saying "I like you as a person,
  but you give your customers really bad stock advice", or a priest saying
  to another "I really like you as a person, but could you please cut down
  on murdering abortion doctors?"

-- 
Erik Naggum, Oslo, Norway

Act from reason, and failure makes you rethink and study harder.
Act from faith, and failure makes you blame someone and push harder.