Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!mailrus!iuvax!watmath!looking!brad From: brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton) Newsgroups: news.admin Subject: Re: The Dynamics of Debate on USENET Message-ID: <22877@looking.on.ca> Date: 27 Sep 89 18:31:59 GMT References: <35033@apple.Apple.COM> Reply-To: brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton) Organization: Looking Glass Software Ltd. Lines: 27 Class: discussion Chuq identifies types of pointless flamewars without pointing out their cause. That cause has become clear to me over the years. That cause is answered by answering the question "why do we post to USENET?" Naturally, the answer is, "to get a response." Posters want to feel part of a community -- posting into a vacuum would quickly bore people. So we all tend to be just a little bit more outrageous and provocative in our writings to the net than we would be in normal life. We all write, perhaps unconsciously, in a deliberate attempt to evoke a response. But many times we become provocative rather than evocative simply because it's easier. The limitations of the medium also contribute. We can't wave our arms or use vocal expression, so we translate this into our words. Of course, in my own personal case, it is ironic that even though I noticed this in myself and others several years ago, and worked to tone down what I saw in myself, I have recently had to endure several flame wars. Those, however, have been about what I have done rather than they way I wrote my postings. -- Brad Templeton, ClariNet Communications Corp. -- Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473