[Leica] Incivility and intolerance - and Buzz Hausner's apology

["Doug Richardson" <doug@meditor.demon.co.uk>]

Buzz Hausner <Buzz@marianmanor.org> wrote:

>I apologize to the list. This message was intended to be sent
privately.


Buzz,
You should be apologising to the person the message was sent to. A
rude message is a rude message, whether sent publicly or privately.
This message, and your earlier "Better Use of Junior's Time" posting
add nothing to our communal knowledge on the subject of Leica
equipment and its use, but were insulting to its recipient (whose name
is *not* "Junior"), and serves only as an example of the growing level
of incivility on the LUG.

Excuse me asking the question, but what source of information do you
or Marc have to justify saying:

>It appears that you are the only member of the LUG who cares how many
plastic parts are in an M6. (Buzz)

>Again and again and again: none of us know and none of us, other than
you, give a hoot. (Marc)

Given that a significant amount of LUG-inspired Leica discussion takes
place not on the list but in emails between members, how can any
individual possibly know what interest or lack of interest any
particular topic is generating amongst the LUG’s ‘silent majority’?
Only a small portion of the LUG membership post messages to the list,
and the more that a topic generates impolite or even rude responses,
the more likely it is that a major part of that discussion will move
to private emails between individuals.

As our daily ‘fix’ of LUG and Son-of-LUG messages pour in, I suspect
we all use the delete key to kill dozens of topics in which each of us
finds totally uninteresting. If you guys find the "plastic parts"
topic boring, then why not use the plastic part labelled "Delete" on
your keyboard to zap it?

The "plastic parts" topic at least has the virtue that it's about
Leica cameras - not Rolex watches, Tilley hats, fountain pens, malt
whisky, motor cycles, Canon lenses, and Ted's legendary underwear.
I drink malt whisky, wear a Rolex watch, and am quite interested in
the Canon lens discussion (I’ve just bought one), but if we can
tolerate or even appreciate these off-topic postings, should we not
be more tolerant of on-topic subjects which may bore us or rouse our
personal ire, but have the saving grace of being Leica-related?

I've exchanged emails on other topics with all both you guys, and with
the person your comments were addressed to, and regard all three of
you as my on-line friends. It saddens me to see the LUG descend to
this sort of squabble.

Regards,

Doug Richardson