Re: OT: Sigs

Bob-Nob wrote:
Griffin venit, vidit, et dixit:

<snip>

However, I just don't like it when people are trying to force their beliefs onto the masses. It's uncalled for, IMO.


Force? I'm not sure you can call it "force." Again, as you rightly
point out, people can post however they want. They're just going to get
an earful about it if they willfully choose to ignore the standards set
by the general community. You can fart where you want, you can shower as
little as you want, but if your smell bothers the people around you,
they're going to speak up about it. And if you ignore them, rightfully
pointing out that their strong requests that you shower frequently and/or
hold in your farts when out in public , you're going to get angry replies
from the people who rightfully point out that your valuing your own
convenience in this matter over the convenience of others is inconsiderate.
Nothing more or less than inconsiderate.

I think that it is force because they will either be kill-filed (or discriminated against due to the way they type) or reprimanded and made fun of. That's not what we're here for, yet it happens.

There are TONS of times when we do things because it's just the
nice thing to do, even if it inconveniences us somewhat, because we
value the community and we recognize that not all the rules have to
benefit us in order to be worth upholding. Sometimes newcomers aren't
aware of the rules and make mistakes. It happens. Personally, if I
do something which offends the generally accepted etiquette, I'd much
rather someone tell me that I'd screwed up so I can be better the next
time, rather than allowing me to continue to screw up. On the whole,
of course, people should be nice about informing the ignorant, but there
really should be no shame in ignorance -- we're all born ignorant --
there's only shame in not adjusting one's actions once one has been
informed of what the etiquette is. And refusing to adjust, after one
has been told, essentially amounts to saying that you don't value the
convenience of the people around you -- "My comfort is more important
than the comfort of the people around me." It's a way of saying that
you don't really give a damn about anyone else. You're absolutely allowed
to feel this way, but it's not good for the idea of a society. Sometimes,
it shnould be in one's self-interest to sacrifice some of one's own
convenience for the greater good.

Agreed.

Joe Schmoe top-posts. He's told that although he is free to
post however he wants, the generally accepted way of posting is
bottom-posting (or intermedial posting, or whatever) and trimming.
He then can choose to continue posting in a way that suits him best
or in a way that suits the community best. Choosing at this point
to top-post is essentially saying, "I value me over the community."
At this point, the community now knowswhere it stands with Joe, that
there is no benefit to doing something nice for Joe, because Joe clearly
doesn't care about doing things nice for the community. In the long
run, Joe misses out. Most obviously, he misses out on making friends
with people (because you don't say "*** you" to friends who ask you a
small favor), though there are other sorts of related opportunities that
occasionally come up if one is not too much of an ass to people. People
are much happier doing favors for people who show consideration to them
first. If a community asks the favor of following its guidelines, you
don't have to follow the guidelines, but in the long run, it's quite
likely that you miss out.

You're right. Why can't a conversation informing a member about the rules take place in an e-mail, though? Is public ridicule the answer here?

Like I say, follow etiquette or don't. There are fairly good
reasons to follow most of the rules of etiquette on usenet. If
they greatly inconvenience you, don't follow them, but be aware that
you're putting your own convenience over that of other people around
you, for whatever you think that's worth.

I think by asking people to post a certain way, they are putting their own convenience over that of other people who top post because that's just how it's been naturally.

--
Griffin
.

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