Back in the time before the Internet, I ran a BBS. Part of that was a message exchange operation where other BBS operators across the country would call in each night to pickup and drop off new messages. Pretty primitive by what you see here in real time but it established the attractive concept that became today's forums.
Some of those written and unwritten rules rightfully fell by the wayside. You never quoted full messages you were responding too. This was in the era of Ma Bell grade long distance fees. There are others might be reconsidered and honored even today.
One thing that brought ire to the group was a Forum Cop. Don't mistake that for a moderator. It might be describe by a fellow that got too excited by English Composition 101. He would correct our gross illiteracy. Maybe speeling[sic] or maybe punctuation. He didn't like dangled participles. This guy was jumped on by everyone else. The medium is about the free exchange of thoughts. To play forum cop stifled that exchange. This isn't a bad concept to keep in mind today. We flow our great thoughts and hopefully do it in structured sentences free of error -- a Walter Mitty dream. No, we don't have editors but are they needed here.
Writing standards are important in many situations. If I operated a magazine, I would want close editing and established standards for submissions. Chatting away at two A.M in a bar, I might willingly suffer a different English standard.
Forums are about the exchange of ideas. They are subject to all our human foibles too. When some becomes offended tempers can flair. Both side often have points they feel they need to make. We pound our own back for our honesty and integrity and darned if the other side isn't doing the same thing. When that happens we need to call a time out and not go about tightening the screws and turning a minor incident into another war. We tried to do that back in the days of those primitive bbs operation and it is obvious we are still struggling with it today.
Lets all step back and think about our real goal and why we choose to get involved -- flaws and all. Who was that guy that said, "Turn the other cheek."?
--------------
The medium is the message -- Marshall McLuhan
I mean: Op. Cit. The Medium is the Message
Some of those written and unwritten rules rightfully fell by the wayside. You never quoted full messages you were responding too. This was in the era of Ma Bell grade long distance fees. There are others might be reconsidered and honored even today.
One thing that brought ire to the group was a Forum Cop. Don't mistake that for a moderator. It might be describe by a fellow that got too excited by English Composition 101. He would correct our gross illiteracy. Maybe speeling[sic] or maybe punctuation. He didn't like dangled participles. This guy was jumped on by everyone else. The medium is about the free exchange of thoughts. To play forum cop stifled that exchange. This isn't a bad concept to keep in mind today. We flow our great thoughts and hopefully do it in structured sentences free of error -- a Walter Mitty dream. No, we don't have editors but are they needed here.
Writing standards are important in many situations. If I operated a magazine, I would want close editing and established standards for submissions. Chatting away at two A.M in a bar, I might willingly suffer a different English standard.
Forums are about the exchange of ideas. They are subject to all our human foibles too. When some becomes offended tempers can flair. Both side often have points they feel they need to make. We pound our own back for our honesty and integrity and darned if the other side isn't doing the same thing. When that happens we need to call a time out and not go about tightening the screws and turning a minor incident into another war. We tried to do that back in the days of those primitive bbs operation and it is obvious we are still struggling with it today.
Lets all step back and think about our real goal and why we choose to get involved -- flaws and all. Who was that guy that said, "Turn the other cheek."?
--------------
The medium is the message -- Marshall McLuhan
I mean: Op. Cit. The Medium is the Message
