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posted to rec.boats
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NG: Need to recommit or admit failure........
On 4 Jan 2006 22:37:05 -0800, wrote:
Today has been really disappointing.
Some of the guys who were doing so well are back to making personal
remarks, and getting easily snagged by the couple of persistent,
totally self-absorbed offenders who insist on trolling their political
junk and years-old feuds through here.
None of my actual business, but from the perspective of a guy who is
generally not (currently) participating in the politics and personal
remarks I'm here to tell you we're about halfway back to "normal". If
we slip just a bit more, we'll have Harry screwing with everybody once
again- everybody screwing with Harry- and we'll be back to a group that
is primarily engaged in name-calling, pig piling, and politics. Boats
be damned. And why not? The non-boaters (or those who at least never
participate in boating discussions) seem to be among the worst
offenders.
But if the majority want a bitchfest, that's certainly what we'll have.
We can cut 'n paste political crap, call one another names, cut 'n
paste counter propaganda, call one another names, dredge up something
somebody allegedly said in 1995 and make a big issue of it, call some
more names, pig pile on the nearest liberal or conservative, etc etc
etc.
We're at a critical moment. Things have been much improved, but it only
takes a few ex-adults to break the cycle. I make no pretense of being
in a position to cast stones, but I can count the number of rocks in
the air and make a note of where they're landing. I guess if we go back
into the toilet it's no real loss, that's where this group apparently
prefers to be and where it has been for years- the laughing stock of
all boating sites. It's a shame, because we almost demonstrated we
could fix it, if we wanted to.
I would like to suggest that my fellow worst offenders ( I needn't name
names, you know darn well who you are) join me in a recommitment to
ignore trolls, refrain from launching political threads, etc. Anybody
among my fellow worst offenders who still gives a schlitz about the
dynamics of the group? This could be the last actual chance to stop
slipping back into the pit before the old sick and destructive momentum
takes over once again.....
We have proven we can do it if we want to. Do we want to? If so, this
is the hour for my fellow worst offenders to stay the recently improved
course.
*Most* have proven they can do it.
A few are still getting roped in by the deliberately provocative behavior of a very
few. Even those very few will eventually get discouraged if not *encouraged* by
replies.
I'm still in!
--
John H.
"Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it."
Rene Descartes
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