Neva Remailer, cleverly pretending to be Monty Can2sin wrote:
-----BEGIN PGP FORGED MESSAGE----- I am of the opinion that Hettinga still has some value, but he should work on his style and do a little more homework before posting.
I think what he is trying to convey is relentless positive energy and friendliness. This may work in person, but it tends to fail in ASCII.
Electronic communication is a bare-bones ASCII interpretation of our intended communication. i.e. - stripped of intonation and other physical gestures which convey a meaning beyond the mere words we speak, in themselves. Although there are some rudimentary ASCII images (:>) which can be used to add elements of shared emotional or conceptual constructs to the message we are attempting to convey. The Medium IS the Message. Until the email/communications medium evolves to allow us the ability to add not only smiles and winks, etc., but also chagrin, doubt, self- doubt, etc., to our online communications, the medium will remain an impediment to conveying the totality of our true message, as opposed to being merely an electronic version of 'pidgin Englich'. e.g. - When I read 'ymmv', I interpret it as 'You Make Me Vomit.' despite the fact that I now know it is usually meant as 'Your Mileage May Vary'. I still instinctively take it to mean the former, which sometimes results in miscommunication, and sometimes results in some of the most outrageous humor imaginable.
He also doesn't seem to be aware that a good portion of his articles are insulting. It's somewhat understandable if he is a recovering Democrat. I've seen cases like this before and they are treatable.
One of the advantages of the shortcomings of email as a communications medium is that we _do_ see our intended meaning stripped bare, with the result that we then have to 'think' (god forbid!) about what portion of our message is being 'twisted' by the loss of our accompanying physical gestures, and what portion of our message is being 'revealed' by the removal of the 'socially polite' gestures that we use to 'conceal' our true intent in our message. e.g. - When a dog bares its teeth while cringing, and the dog's human companion says, "It's just her way of smiling." Right... When we are attacked for what our ASCII Doppleganger 'appears' to reveal about us and our message, we tend to adopt a 'fight or flight' posture, in which we then proceed to either 'suck ass', drooling on ourself as we try to explain what we "meant to say," or we launch a counter-attack which tends to confirm the opposite of what we had intended to convey. The only True (TM) response to, "You are a racist, sexist, violent asshole piece of shit!" is, "Yeah? So what's your point?" If you take a look at the posts which stir-up long threads of animosity and dissention, I think you will recognize that they are based on simple, universal 'keywords' which we then react to by aligning ourself on this-or-that side of the Newtonian equation. We need to remind ourselves that, ever since the Theory of Relativity was born, we should take into account that Dr. Vulis' theory that "All CypherPunks are cocksuckers." is subject to wide variations of interpretation/acceptability, depending on whether the 'CypherPunk' is named John Gilmore, or Carol Anne Cypherpunk. Not that I'm a 'sexist'...:> (;P) {:0) (:) {;{>} (:>)=======< Help! They knocked me down and cut off my arms! \ (:>)-------< I'm healed! I'm healed. / ArmMonger