Ping: Julia Altshuler

limey said:

Julia, a year or so ago, you posted a description of a hypothetical
flame war and described posters' various responses and reactions. Since
it was so accurate I carefully saved it, only to have my computer crash
last fall.

Is there a chance you kept a copy? I tried good old Google but perhaps
didn't go back far enough.

Is this what you're thinking of? If not, describe it more carefully,
and I'll look for it. --Lia

----------------------------------------------

1. Original poster posts peeve about some manner of posting that drives
him/her nuts.

2. Other posters chime in about how much that bothers them too.

3. Discussion broadens out to include other peeves.

4. Plea is made for people to make their messages more easily
understood/read.

5. Poster for the dissent says that s/he speaks English as a second
language and is being made to feel uncomfortable about
typing/grammar/spelling skills. (Or sometimes time constraints or
arthritis are given as reasons for typing the way one does.) Dissenters
speak of being afraid to post and the possibility that they're not wanted.

6. Original poster says that while some excuses for obnoxious
communications are acceptable and some errors too minor to present a
barrier to communication, other messages are simply too hard to be
bothered with. Repeat offenders are killfiled. Not every message is
read anyway for reasons of time or lack of interest anyway. Why not
skip messges whose lack of standard capitalization, punctuation and
spelling make them too difficult to decipher?

7. Errors are found in the messages written by those who purport to
support good spelling and good grammar. Those people are now dubbed
pompous.

8. All hell breaks loose with accusations flying. "If you want me to
read your messages, write them so I can read them." "Don't be so mean
to poor arthritic poster who's typing the best she can."
"Pompous!"
"[censored]!"

9. If there's a moderator, the moderator gets on to tell everyone to
cut it out. If not, accusations continue for a while until all get bored.

Julia Altshuler said:

limey said:

Julia, a year or so ago, you posted a description of a hypothetical
flame war and described posters' various responses and reactions.
Since it was so accurate I carefully saved it, only to have my
computer crash last fall.

Is there a chance you kept a copy? I tried good old Google but
perhaps didn't go back far enough.

Is this what you're thinking of? If not, describe it more carefully,
and I'll look for it. --Lia

<carefully saved>

Yes, that's it, Lia! Many thanks. It's saved on the computer once
more but *this* time I have a paper copy.
Priceless.

Dora

limey said:

Yes, that's it, Lia! Many thanks. It's saved on the computer once
more but *this* time I have a paper copy.
Priceless.

Aw, shucks. Thanks. The funny thing is that when I posted it here, I
got several compliments on how funny it was. When I posted it on a
quilting mailing list (privately owned and therefore moderated), it
didn't get one giggle. I'd timed the post appropriately too, right as
the grammar war was getting started. And allow me to show my drop
drawed amazement that you remembered that I was the one who sent it. I
drop in and out of this group so I don't feel like one of the old-time
regulars. Yet you remembered my name! I don't know all y'all half so
well. (And I should be dropping out again soon. I just got the call
that Jim's back in town and needs to be picked up at the airport. I use
y'all for company when he's gone.)

--Lia

Julia Altshuler said:

limey said:

Yes, that's it, Lia! Many thanks. It's saved on the computer once
more but *this* time I have a paper copy.
Priceless.

Aw, shucks. Thanks. The funny thing is that when I posted it here, I
got several compliments on how funny it was. When I posted it on a
quilting mailing list (privately owned and therefore moderated), it
didn't get one giggle. I'd timed the post appropriately too, right as
the grammar war was getting started. And allow me to show my drop
drawed amazement that you remembered that I was the one who sent it. I
drop in and out of this group so I don't feel like one of the
old-time regulars. Yet you remembered my name! I don't know all
y'all half so well. (And I should be dropping out again soon. I
just got the call that Jim's back in town and needs to be picked up
at the airport. I use y'all for company when he's gone.)

--Lia

I was one of those who thought it was so funny (because it was so true).
You are too modest - I always enjoy your posts and especially hearing of
your travails at the wine and cheese shop. You're a great writer.

Have fun with Jim and I hope to see you here soon.

Dora

limey said:

I was one of those who thought it was so funny (because it was so true).
You are too modest - I always enjoy your posts and especially hearing of
your travails at the wine and cheese shop. You're a great writer.

Alas, my job at the wine and cheese shop is a thing of the past. I
thought it best to quit when I was getting bullied by one of the other
employees. I wasn't depending on it for money so it's not the end of
the world, but I had been enjoying it so I'm still bummed that things
worked out the way they did.

As for the writing, enough people have been encouraging me about my
writing that I thought I'd look into it further. I took a class, had a
great time, really started looking at writing differently. Most of all,
I realized that one needn't get a novel published to be a writer. I've
started sending shorter pieces to newspapers and trying my luck there.
Writing is hard! I can't believe how hard it is. When I look at
writing I admire, I'm floored now that anyone can do it. If I'm any
good at it at all, I'm crediting usenet for drumming into my head how
important it is to be clear all the time and to think about how many
different people with different assumptions will be reading anything I say.

--Lia

Julia Altshuler said:

limey said:

I was one of those who thought it was so funny (because it was so
true). You are too modest - I always enjoy your posts and especially
hearing of your travails at the wine and cheese shop. You're a
great writer.

Alas, my job at the wine and cheese shop is a thing of the past. I
thought it best to quit when I was getting bullied by one of the other
employees. I wasn't depending on it for money so it's not the end of
the world, but I had been enjoying it so I'm still bummed that things
worked out the way they did.

As for the writing, enough people have been encouraging me about my
writing that I thought I'd look into it further. I took a class, had
a great time, really started looking at writing differently. Most of
all, I realized that one needn't get a novel published to be a writer.
I've started sending shorter pieces to newspapers and trying my luck
there. Writing is hard! I can't believe how hard it is. When I look
at writing I admire, I'm floored now that anyone can do it. If I'm
any
good at it at all, I'm crediting usenet for drumming into my head how
important it is to be clear all the time and to think about how many
different people with different assumptions will be reading anything
I say.
--Lia

Sorry about the wine and cheese shop, since I enjoyed reading about your
learning experiences. Life's too short to work where you are on edge,
though, for whatever reason.

Yes, keep up with your writing. I enjoy your posts on here, as I'm
sure others do, Lia, so pursue it wherever it takes you. Good luck!

Dora