BE NICE!: Was Re: [Leica] Mike Johnston's Rude Language

[Dante A Stella <dante@umich.edu>]

    I think Mike might have gone a little over the top, but Erwin's posts -- and
this may be due to the way things come across in English and in email -- are
occasionally insensitive and sometimes insulting.  For example, the whole
practice of beginng a post with "Someone on this group said/mentioned/opined"
could come across, when put in email, where inflection and expression are
invisible, as "Some fucking idiot on this group dared to say something (I don't
agree with/Is so simple even an idiot should understand it/Is intuitively
obvious)."  Sometimes it's not hard to see why Mike may have gotten cheesed off.

    To his credit, Erwin has a great knowledge of Leica history, design, and
lens performance.  He is good at testing lenses and reporting on them.  The
"blather" as Mike calls it, or the exegesis, opinions, philosophy, etc., is
something you can either take or leave based on your thoughts about Erwin's
qualifications to make them (e.g. whether a megabit film will really change
things "on the ground," whether digital will inevitably overtake film in the
near future, etc).

    The present dispute has bits of both types of post - to break it down:

    Test or Trial Part 1 - Philosophy.  An expansion on what was really a simple
point.  You like it or you don't.  I think this was the message that triggered
an angry reaction.  I think most of this message rephrased what Mike said, but
in a way that suggested that Mike didn't understand (of course quoting him but
not naming him).

    Test or Trial Part 2 - Great content.  This is why we read Erwin.

    Message or Messenger - conciliatory and more good content, but the fact that
he doesn't even mention Mike by name seems a touch rude.  This goes right to the
"someone on this group" example at the top of this message.

    Perhaps the dispute stems from cultural or language differences, or even
personal style, but we should all BE NICE DAMMIT!  Erwin, it's time to use
names.  Mike, don't take it so seriously...

Dante

Marc James Small wrote:

> At 03:57 PM 11/24/2000 -0600, Mike Johnston wrote:
> >I would really appreciate it if you would stop commenting on my posts. Every
> >time I say something, you jump in with 500 lines of blather anxiously
> >attempting to refute whatever I say. I think most luggers are intelligent
> >enough to form their own opinions of what I write without your obfuscations.
> >
> >As for myself, I'm flattered that you're so concerned with every word I say,
> >but I'm not interested in your overanxious critiques of my opinions.
>
> Thanks, Mike.  I was unaware that you now ran the LUG.  The world does NOT
> revolve around you!
>
> I suspect the reason Erwin goes out of his way to comment upon your posts
> is for the elucidation of the rest of us.  I doubt if your personal
> photographic salvation is of much interest to him.  But I, and perhaps
> others, have learned much from his weighty and worthy discourses.
>
> Marc
>
> msmall@roanoke.infi.net  FAX:  +540/343-7315
> Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!