Decorum

Posted on May 2, 2008
Filed Under General |

For the third time I deleted a comment yesterday.  The first two were easy - one accused someone else who’d commented here of being active on a gay porn site, the other was a typically hysterical lefty rant - this one took a couple seconds to decide.

I’ve said I’ve been through all this before, and I have.  Dowding quotes is old hat, cheap and lazy, but it’s also transparent;  once links are established readers can and will make up their own minds, and repetitive explanations are unnecessary and a waste of time.  Pertinent to the deleted post:  Back in the days of 4800 baud modems, commenters used to cut and paste dictionary definitions - notably irrelevant to the conversation at hand - hoping to cleverly insult their target without the burden of having to actually think.  Now, the super clever link to Wikipedia entries instead, but the intent is exactly the same: go after the person, not the argument; ad hominem.  And I know, again from experience, once ad hominem arguments start, they escalate.

So they won’t start.

It’s simple, really.  Please:  Attack ideas, not people.  “That’s a stupid idea!” is legit - though you might want to follow up with why - “You’re an idiot!” is not, and will be deleted no matter who the target.

Comments

3 Responses to “Decorum”

  1. Anonymous on May 4th, 2008 6:09 pm

    So when I point out apparent contradictions in your statements you dismiss it as being taken out of context instead of addressing the apparent contradiction. What kinda of decorum do you call that?

  2. Jeff Kempe on May 5th, 2008 1:13 am

    >What kinda of decorum do you call that?

    Mine.

  3. Anonymuos on May 5th, 2008 9:05 pm


    >What kinda of decorum do you call that?

    Mine.

    That’s a stupid idea.

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