atw: Re: Recent flaming on austechwriter

I made a public comment but not a private complaint. You know, I
profoundly respect all the contributors on this list, and many times
over, would have thrown my arms up in despair with my head on my knees
without Austechwriter.
 
The last thread related to grammar got close to uncomfortable for me,
but nowhere near the embittered vitriol that has been exchanged by some
people in the past on this list. Sheesh, thank god it is an email list
and not a boxing ring, there would be blood and guts on the canvas
otherwise... 
 
The problem with email lists in general is the speed of responses and
that people don't take a deep breath before responding. There are two
main issues on lists that I see.
 
1. People are too sensitive to opinions and suggestions that
disagree/conflict with their own ideas.
2. People sometimes take disagreement personally, and respond
aggressively too quickly.
 
I have always thought this email list is meant to be a forum for:
Professional assistance
Mentoring
Help
Venting - honest and preferably entertaining ;-)
Support professionally amongst a small fraternity
Professionally directed rebukes
Passionate technical communicators who love their work
 
So please, lets remember that opinions provided in the midst of robust
discussion should never be aimed at the person. If you think they are,
then don't respond immediately. Ignore the personal and keep to the
professional. 
 
I, more than most people, have been able to reduce others to tears with
my sociopathic insults in the past. I have offended, insulted, hurt and
bled lots of people and lost a few friends because of my incredible
ability to over-react. I am learning to take a deep breath before the
plunge and I find that cathartic in everything I do. It has taught me
that very often, I was being over-sensitive. And you see this is a
personal discipline, it is not something we can enforce with rules, it
goes back to the fundamentals of being a good or bad person, making the
choice to be either, and getting better at it. 
 
There are a couple of posters to the list who clearly do post to push
buttons, and the posts are obviously designed to illicit confrontational
responses. I tend to ignore them now. Maybe we all should. It is a hard
enough game out there without having your peers smack you around the
head like a schoolyard bully for personal gratifications that are
unedifying, professionally degrading (to the poster btw, not the
recipients - that is us) and disrespectful, firstly to yourself and
ipso-facto, to the rest of us. It really sucks when people you respect
highly for their experience and technical knowledge shamelessly take a
shot at someone personally, it makes them look really dumb and small. 
 
Regards,

Warren 


 

________________________________

From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Geoffrey
Marnell
Sent: Friday, 24 April 2009 09:52
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Recent flaming on austechwriter


Hi austechies,
 
I've had a complaint from a subscriber that flaming occurred during the
recent thread to do with The Elements of Style. I've gone through the
thread a few times now and, while I can see that there was certainly
some robust and energetic argument, I can't see any flaming (that is,
hostility warranting censure). Maybe I'm getting soft in the head as the
years tumble by and missing the bleeding obvious. So let me throw the
issue over to you: did anyone who participated in, or read, the thread
in question sense any hostility warranting censure?
 
Cheers
 
 
Geoffrey Marnell
Principal Consultant
Abelard Consulting Pty Ltd
T: +61 3 9596 3456
F: +61 3 9596 3625
W: www.abelard.com.au <http://www.abelard.com.au/>

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