BoatBanter.com - View Single Post

On Wed, 07 Apr 2004 21:37:29 GMT, (Henry Blackmoore) wrote:

[snip]

This newsgroup is akin to a pub where most everyone shares a common interest.

It's nothing at all like a pub. In a pub--or in any face to face
gathering--there are certain built-in constraints to behavior. Those
constraints tend to be closely tied to a) shame; and b) one's instinct for
self-preservation. Here on rec.boats, a very small handful of people behave in
ways I presume they never would in real life, simply because they'd risk
personal embarrassment, shame and likely personal injury.

You have a point there. But you are preaching to the wrong person. I didn't
come to this newsgroup to get into it with folks.

And yet, strangely, out of all the posts you've made to rec.boats under your
current 'nym, almost none of them have anything to do with boating. Maybe you
were a prolific and valued boater posting under some other handle?

But I be god-damned if I
have to remain silent while sob's throw insults my way. Just like in a real
pub I can fight back if I so choose.

It takes no courage whatsoever to post insults from behind the comparative
anonymity of a Usenet handle--and in many instances here I see pure cowardice.

Bully for you.

A pub on the waterfront perhaps that attracts boaters.

Many of the people here (like you) would not last ten minutes in an actual
physical gathering of boaters. Besides--I see very little evidence of any
interest in boating among the more prolific combatants here. My hunch is that,
even with the onset of the boating season, you who have effectively ruined
rec.boats as a boating resource will continue your sociopathic behavior here.

How come I don't see posts like this chewing out Harry K. and company, like
'asskisser? Why is that? Am I missing something?

Probably, yes. Tell you what: why don't you do a search of the rec.boats
archives for all the posts I've made here (you should find well over 400 of
them); you should be able to discern what my positions are, and to whom I
express them. You may be surprised.

Is it okay for them to spew
their vile and bullsh*t but shame on me for putting it back in front of them?
All the chastizing seems to be very one-sided around here.

I suspect you're reading only a small part of the traffic in rec.boats.

And like any pub
filled with free spirited individuals the folks can and will talk about most
anything that they wish. Be it boats, politics or anything else.

Ah. Never been in a pub full of "free spirited individuals," I see--unless you
subsist on a diet of Ensure, sucked through a wired jaw.

Just who are you to say otherwise?

I've always found this kind of position amusing: people like you, who
contribute
to the rapid deterioration of a formerly useful community under some sort of
"free speech" umbrella, yet who whine and complain hypocritically when called
to
account for that same behavior.

Oh really now? I have been coming here for years now and you know something?
I came in here originally to talk about boats and I still do.

Really? Under what handle? And when?

However when I
first started posting I also got insulted and had mud flung at me by various
members of the newsgroup that made fun of my home state, my name, my email
addresses, my boat and my political affliations amongst other things.

Can you consider the strong possibility that you may have contributed
significantly to that state of affairs? Even caused it? You seem to be upset
that you've been insulted, and that your "political affiliations" have been
ridiculed. I never seem to have that problem. Care to guess why?

The
folks that I retort to or insult in here are the ones that started throwing
their **** at me first.

Really. So poor, innocent Henry first posted to rec.boats about--what, boats?
And was immediately maligned for his innocent, on-topic posting. No, unless you
x-no some of your posts, or have posted earlier under some different 'nym; just
about every post I've been able to find from you has seemed to be spoiling for
some kind of fight.

Same as in a pub or bar I don't walk away from too
many jerks throwing verbal punches or otherwise. Why should I? I have the
right to speak my mind as well.

This is what is called a "straw man." No one has said that you don't have a
right to behave badly on Usenet--but you can't reasonably expect not to receive
consequences--verbal on Usenet, possibly physical in meatspace. I have never
seen anyone behave IRL as you and several others do here without either being
assaulted or ejected from the premises.

You expect me and others to just settle down and be silent while the left-wing
whacko contingent says and does what they please?

You are preaching to the wrong person here. Go play NetCop to somebody else.
Let's see you engage some of the lefties on this issue.

As I've said--I suspect you have read rec.boats quite selectively. Check the
archives.

Joe Parsons