Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Okay, okay

From:Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>
Date:Thursday, January 6, 2005, 4:28
I may have overreacted a bit.

Sai: Certainly, despite the potentially inflammable topic, you seem to
be a model of reasonability; I meant nothing personal by my reaction.
Plus, things are admittedly extra-stressful in real life for me right
now (busy at work, getting ready to move house, etc), and my elevated
stress levels no doubt contributed to my sensitivity.

It wasn't really the off-topicality that bothered me, either.  Some of
the most interesting (to me) threads on this list have been off-topic,
and I wouldn't want those to stop now.  As long as they're appropriately
marked with the OT indicator, that's not a problem.

It's the seemingly-intentional contentiousness that bothers me.
People are being arrogant, confrontational, and/or just downright rude,
and I don't think that kind of attitude has any place on this list.

I don't want to get off on a rant here, but if you feel your
locale/dialect/pet linguistic theory is inherently superior to all
others, then you are no doubt correct!  But you are also unlikely to
convince *everyone* here to share even the most *obviously* correct
viewpoint.  Unless you are genuinely willing to be persuaded that you're
the one who's wrong, you're not really interested in an honest debate on
the subject - which means we're all better off if you don't bring it up
at all.

Of course, that's just my opinion.  I could be wrong.

Anyway, I'm sticking around for now.  Keep the posts coming, be they
Tatari Faran translations of Carroll (brilliant!) or whatever - just try
to keep a little perspective, empathy, etc.  Please.

-Marcos