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Kirby Hall (hall -at- wthm32 -dot- sinet -dot- slb -dot- com) says:
> I'll try again. I've been reading about 51% of the mail regarding sexist,
> sexual and violent terminology which is used in computerese and presumbably,
> the manuals that try to document the computerese; and about 32% of the
> copyright discussion.
Congratulations for keeping up, Kirby :-)
> What I find interesting is the very wholesome and clean nature of the
> verbiage you all choose to use. [...] I mean, what the hell? Is feisty
> language considered vulgar, immature, cheap, too easy, too connected
> to the likes of Tonya Harding et al?
There are many factors contributing to the civility of the
discussions here.
Vulgarity has its place; it's a blunt instrument, useful for
shock effect, much the way you might use a hammer. Most of us here,
however, are (oddly enough) writers; when we *do* want to make a
point, we're more likely to express ourselves with careful writing;
using a scalpel, instead of a hammer. When you need a hammer, you
can't beat having one, but most of the time we need scalpels.
Additionally, even though this is an informal forum, most of
us are professional tech writers (or academics), which leads to
maintaining a level of professional decorum. Who knows, we might
have to *work* with some of these people some day :-)
On top of this (if we need something even more), this is
something on the order of a tech writer's psychological support group.
Most of us are dealing with the same sorts of problems, and we're
worried about the same sorts of issues. While we may have
disagreements (and we certainly state them), these common interests
discourage the divisiveness you may have witnessed in other mailing
lists.
> Fear of seeming adolescent may be tied to fear of being ripped off, but
> probably not. I think that it's just a question of your brains being a few
> sizes larger than mine.
No, it's just a question of aptitude and attitude.
