[PREV - NOFOLLOW]    [TOP]

BURDEN_OF_SKIN

                                             July 28, 2009

      There are two different ways you can
      set-up discussion groups. There's one
      style where direct, honest speech is
      welcomed, and the burden is on the           Usenet is typically
      listener to try to rise above any            in the first camp.
      perceived insult ("grow some
      skin"). In the other style the burden                USENET
      is placed on the speaker to make an
      effort to be polite, to avoid insult,                MONKEYS_BUTT
      and so on.

      Wikipedia, for example, is
      clearly in the second camp,
      it's guidlines include:

        "Civility",
        "No Personal Attacks",
        "Do Not Bite the Newcomers"



               The first thing to observe
               about these two approaches is
               that neither of them work.

               It's certainly not hard for
               me to think of examples of
               forums where a spirit of
               camraderie reigned until one
               or two jerks managed to drag
               the tone of the group down.

               But also, it's not hard for
               me to think of examples of
               groups where the mandated         Dicussions on wikipedia can
               civility has been a cover for     get positively creepy, with
               incivility.  Politeness rules     everyone pretending to be
               have a way of being enforced      all neutral and polite with
               inconsistently...                 few cues as to what someone
                                                 is *really* thinking.

                                                      THE_TOY_WEB
                                                      THE_ROVERS

                                                               (Jan 6, 2011)

                                                  Once you start considering
                                                  the *possibility* that the
                                                  speaker is, shall we say, not
                                                  being entirely upfront, you
                                                  can get into a paranoid
                                                  scanning for the true belief
                                                  behind the delivered message.

                                                  Politeness poisons
                                                  discourse.









--------
[NEXT - WELL_USED]