Is it OK to be rude to people ?

There have been a number of threads recently covering issues such as of what
counts as offensive, how important or otherwise it is to be polite to people
even if they ask silly or irrelevant questions, etc. I'm quite clear in my
own mind that it *isn't* OK to respond rudely - as I've said elsewhere, you
always have the option of ignoring posts if you don't feel the poster has a
legitimate right to benefit from your expertise, if you don't feel inclined
to respond politely. I believe there's an old saying that if you can't
think of anything pleasant to say it's better to say nothing.

However it's clear that many on this NG disagree with this view. On reading
the recent "Moody" thread I found myself quite taken aback by the number of
people who seemed to think it's OK to respond in ways which to me are
clearly offensive. As I find this completely unacceptable I really felt I
didn't want to have any dealings with people who thought this way,
regardless of how expert they were - and found myself reluctantly killfiling
several people who appear to be well-respected in their field.

I am now coming to the point where I wonder whether I still want to
subscribe to this group. I know several people have commented that other
NGs are far more aggressive - but this hasn't been my experience with the
few others I've subscribed to. I would therefore welcome any reassurance
that sufficient people think being polite is important for me to want to
hang on in (either privately or publicly).

Steve



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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Is it OK to be rude to people ?
    ... Steve Bamford wrote: ... counts as offensive, how important or otherwise it is to be polite to people even if they ask silly or irrelevant questions, etc. I'm quite clear in my own mind that it *isn't* OK to respond rudely - as I've said elsewhere, you always have the option of ignoring posts if you don't feel the poster has a legitimate right to benefit from your expertise, if you don't feel inclined to respond politely. ... I would therefore welcome any reassurance that sufficient people think being polite is important for me to want to hang on in. ... There is absolutely no doubt that the expertise available here is invaluable. ...
    (soc.genealogy.britain)
  • Re: Netiquette Guidelines
    ... >> I disagree when I actually disagree, and I usually explain why I ... >>> Having been raised in such a way that if I failed to be polite, ... You are conditioned to conform. ... > This is an example of a personal attack. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Netiquette Guidelines
    ... anyone who posts to the Usenet for any length of time comes ... >> someone else considers to be polite. ... I disagree when I actually disagree, and I usually explain why I ... You are conditioned to conform. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Man City v Man United FA Cup (R)
    ... I'd let it go Moog, he's a nasty piece of work. ... particularly those who dare to disagree with him. ... - again with this lie ... nearly all of them are in reply to people who were being POLITE. ...
    (rec.sport.soccer)
  • Re: Netiquette Guidelines
    ... >>> someone else considers to be polite. ... > I disagree when I actually disagree, and I usually explain why I ... You are conditioned to conform. ... objective example should be used to make the point, not a personal attack. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)