Originally posted by LoudMusic
I guess this applies to bulletin boards ... just substituite nouns.
"IRC is a vain and fickle world."
~LoudMusic
Well, I can understand 'posting from the hip' as it were - it was a pretty silly post that got him riled, and jeez we've all posted in the heat of the moment.
However, as your current title suggests, a quick deep breath before replying should have revealed the guy had pretty limited English skills, and that a simple 'you're entitled to your opinion as I am to mine' would have been ample. That's hindsight.
I think what surprised everyone was his coming back to it a week later, when the guy that ticked him off hadn't reposted to the site. That was a bit odd, and I think the response from the community was warranted, especially given his status.
But, that's the fun of on-line living. If he'd let it go, everyone would have forgotten about it in a couple of days, forgiven him, and moved on.
Instead, he did this pointless thing and angered a lot of people.
There really was no need for him to go. I think the site is very well conducted compared to a lot of the flame-fests that go on out there - there's the odd flare-up but it's over quickly and we move on. The forum really wasn't too concerned about it, but obviously the chiding was too much for him.
Do you think because the 'physicality' of normal conversation is removed people react differently and in a more exaggerated fashion than they would normally?
It's ironic, isn't it? We have this medium of communication that is very limited in terms of broadcasting emotional content, and yet often you will see people react 'in extremis', in a way you would never see in the real world.
Gee, that got a bit rambly...
