On Tue, Mar 17, 2009 at 9:29 AM, jtd jtd@mtnl.net.in wrote:
On Tuesday 17 Mar 2009, Dinesh Shah wrote:
On Mon, Mar 16, 2009 at 4:22 PM, jtd jtd@mtnl.net.in wrote:
Here is the result of the poll.
41% voted for barring the person from the list 36% voted for putting offending member on moderation 18% voted for giving award for "contribution" 5% voted for making offender admin/moderator.
what was the total number of votes polled? I am sure it will be a ridiculously low number.
How does it mater? We can only go by the number of people who ACTUALLY BOTHERED TO VOTE.
On such daft topics as using slang (as opposed to abusive words)? The type of epithets i listed is slang. Words such as the F word and are wonderfully descriptive desi gallis have never been used on the list afaik.
People have better things to do. If you dont have more than fifty percent of list members voting, the poll should be scrapped as statistically invalid.
Considering the majority wants offender to be gaged, admins/mods will put profanity user on the list on moderation for one month followed by expulsion from the list on repeat offense(s).
Now enjoy your Freedom with Responsibility.
Profanity???? Who decides?. Is bloody a profanity? is jerk a profanity? is dork a profanity?
Bloody is commonly used in colloquial english, but if you use it with a non english speaking person he will be deeply offended ( has happened with me) Dork means a male whale's sex organ and commonly used in canada, Oz and NZ and is a profanity that most here wont even know.
Is asshole a profanity ?. How about anal retentive for the profanity super-sensitized.
While speaking in person one can sensitize oneself. While on the net it is difficult.
That is even more reason to be on your guard while writing to a public mailing list.
We ARE writing in English. The episode i described above was in the presence of several other people who speak english. Everyone had a laugh at the cost of the guy who misinterpreted bloody as a galli hurled at him. So it wasn't me who was red faced.
Only way to be "sensitized" on a public mailing list is NOT to use language which could be either misunderstood or could be outright offensive to "someone" on the list. Remember "my dear" episode?
My dear is NOT in any way offensive or profane in english. Period. People were venting spleen on some other issue i presume (i was away at the time and returned to see a mile long thread of god_also_did_not_know_what_was_it_about) and promptly deleted the thread.
Come on guys get a life. I have yet to see something more idiotic.
What, the poll or use of expletive?
Both. Expletives were used for people who do not care about what they do with others email ids. A poll should be for things that matter and castigation for breach of list rules. You cant castigate someone for screwing a list rules breaker, least of all moderating / banning them.
This poll logic seems strange to say the least.
-- Rgds JTD -- http://mm.glug-bom.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
Ever wonder why people swear? It turns out that usually its due to a poor vocabulary. So, it may not be that the person swearing really meant harm. Its probably because they don't know how to express themselves in ample words or are being simply lazy! The added bonus of swearing on a G/LUG list? Its archived for the world to see!!!
Even more enjoyable is the etymology of swear/curse/bawdy words. Where do these come from? I remember, as kids, we used to hear the term "Bloody Bugger" quite commonly (I grew up in Hyderabad). Well, "Bloody" comes from "By your Lady" (mid-ages) and "bugger" is ...I'll let you enjoy that one in the privacy of your LCD monitors! http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A753527
cheers, Sameer