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From: sms@eisx.UUCP (Samuel Saal)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Mareet Iyeen
Message-ID: <838@eisx.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 3-Jan-85 11:20:58 EST
Article-I.D.: eisx.838
Posted: Thu Jan  3 11:20:58 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 4-Jan-85 00:54:25 EST
Organization: AT&T Info. Sys. Labs, South Plainfield NJ
Lines: 67


       Fellow Jews

       The title of this posting is called Mareet Iyeen and is my
       best attempt to transliterate the term. I apologize if it is
       not the preferred spelling.  The point of this posting is as
       follows. Mareet Iyeen is the law requiring us to be careful
       of our actions lest they be misconstrued to *appear* wrong
       even if they were not. For example, one should not go into a
       McDonalds to buy a Coke while wearing a kippah because some
       one may not realize that you are not eating there. They may
       think that because a kippah wearer is going there he is
       going to eat and a kippah wearer would only eat where it is
       Kosher and therefore McDonalds is Kosher. The example is
       contrived and arguable, but I believe it makes the point.
       Why do I bring this up?  I've been reading net.religion
       .jewish for a while and I find that many of the writers
       have excellent things to say. However, how they say it
       leaves much to be desired. My complaint focuses on 2
       things:

         1.  POOR spelling, and

         2.  personal attacks.

       The second one has been a problem for a while in many
       newsgroups. I would like to say that we should set an
       example and *try* to refrain from these. I won't say it
       because the very anonymous nature of the net seems to make
       these attacks easier and more common (also more virulent;
       I'm sure that a lot of what is being said in writing would
       *never* be said to a person's face)

       The first point is really what prompted me to write this. I
       doubt I would have bothered except that it has become truly
       distracting from otherwise very informative articles. When
       you post something, why not proofread it once before
       posting.  There have been some mistakes that people should
       be embarrassed about. Without mentioning the names of the
       perpetrators, let me cite 2 examples:

          - the use of homonyms ("there" when you mean "their" or
            "they're", etc.)

          - typos

       The first type of error will be caught if you proofread
       before posting.  The second type will be caught if you use
       UNIX's "spell" program (or its equivalent on other systems).
       This is not too much to ask, I believe, and it would also
       serve as an example of the calibre of people that I think we
       are and should attempt to represent.

       Finally, if people would go through their postings once
       before sending them it would have an additional benefit: it
       would force you to read what you've written and consider
       whether it really is necessary to go through with posting
       the attack that was written in haste. You won't regret
       pulling it out.



       A little musar never hurt any one.


       Sam Saal
       ...!ihnp4!eisx!sms