Typophile - Why is everybody fighting AGAIN? - Comments

It is pretty futile isn’t

hrant — Fri, 1 Jun 2007 22:24:02 -0700

It is pretty futile isn’t it. As Madeline would say:
“There’s been entirely too much externalizing of emotion lately.”

hhp

Worse than that Hrant, I

bieler — Fri, 1 Jun 2007 22:16:50 -0700

Worse than that Hrant, I just spent half an hour reading through this crap. Typophile is becoming a futile exercise. Is there an informative thread out there tonight. Maybe, good luck finding it.

Gerald

Trying to elaborate on what

hrant — Fri, 1 Jun 2007 21:58:27 -0700

Trying to elaborate on what I wrote this morning, I’ve come to the view that the ideal member of Typophile is somebody who cares more about type than himself. But that being inhuman, the diluted version might be that a good member of Typophile is somebody who cares more about what people say about type than what they say about him. In trying to be like that, I honestly don’t get very worked up when somebody calls me an anti-Semite or a clueless idiot; but as a rule I do very much get worked up when somebody says that a darker weight doesn’t have to be tighter to work [as] well, or that Latinization is actually a good thing, or even something as esoteric as confounding the difference between display and text type. Ergo, try to care about things that other people care about: not you, but type.

hhp

> Maybe we need a place for

david hamuel — Fri, 1 Jun 2007 10:07:16 -0700

> Maybe we need a place for people to vent their aggression

Portable bathroom

> This ‘answering’ is

hrant — Fri, 1 Jun 2007 07:41:16 -0700

> This ‘answering’ is the only check and balance there is on the internet

Untrue.
That’s a very literal, formalist, Western view.

> they are the most democratic institutions we have at present.

Although technically not incorrect, this is a confusing use of the term
“democratic”. In terms of governance (the usual association of the term)
Typophile is run by a self-appointed few. And that’s why it works against
the odds (referring to our heterogenous mix) and is so useful.

hhp

>Then the real test starts:

William Berkson — Fri, 1 Jun 2007 07:19:13 -0700

>Then the real test starts: How do we respond if and when we’re offended?

That’s an excellent question. The difficulty I have is a conflict that I haven’t figured out the best way to resolve.

On one side of the difficulty is that I don’t want to let false and defamatory statements go without being contradicted, at least here where I am a participant or a target. This ’answering’ is the only check and balance there is on the internet, or at least on Typophile.

The other conflicting side of the difficulty is that some people like quarreling, or at least can’t help themselves. If you respond in any detail to such people, they will just ’escalate’, piling on more personal attacks, defamation, rubbish and irrelevant arguments, etc. And there is no end to it.

Perhaps the best thing is just to contradict the defamatory statement, and leave it at that without going into detail, since any detail is fuel for the quarrelsome. At any rate, I’ll try that in the future.

A great thing about internet forums, or at least this one, is that they are the most democratic institutions we have at present. Miss Giggles and Jonathan Hoeffler have the same status—open to all.

But it comes with problems. One problem is a lot of posts that you may feel are a waste of time. That is easy to deal with—just don’t post. But defamation is a more difficult problem, and it is a major one on the internet. It may be wisest just to let it fly, but I doubt it.

> How do we respond if and

hrant — Fri, 1 Jun 2007 06:52:46 -0700

> How do we respond if and when we’re offended?

In a way that helps society.

hhp

Murphy’s Law of Usenet

Renaissance Man — Fri, 1 Jun 2007 03:46:23 -0700

Murphy’s Law of Usenet News:
No matter how neutral the topic, your message will offend someone.
—Viruslist.com/Kaspersky Labs

Then the real test starts: How do we respond if and when we’re offended?

Hmmm… I actually have not

Werfer — Fri, 1 Jun 2007 02:16:20 -0700

Hmmm... I actually have not experienced any fights, have had only friendly conversations up to now - well, except for Uli, of course :-) But I daresay that doesn’t count :-)

Yes, that certainly appears

KenBessie — Thu, 31 May 2007 22:36:04 -0700

Yes, that certainly appears so. (And my mum can still kick your blackletter. Mostly she likes Wedding Script, but lately she’s been tending towards FF Brokenscript Rough).

Our Anaheim Canadians can

fontplayer — Thu, 31 May 2007 22:25:00 -0700

Our Anaheim Canadians can kick the butt of Canada’s Canadians.

Oh, my mum can kick your

KenBessie — Thu, 31 May 2007 22:20:13 -0700

Oh, my mum can kick your Eqyptienne blackletter.

Maybe we need a place for

Christian Robertson — Thu, 31 May 2007 22:15:59 -0700

Maybe we need a place for people to vent their aggression. Time for the battles to return? :) “That’s it, man, let’s take this into the ring! May the best egyptian blackletter win!”

and two to say, “that’s

ChuckGroth — Thu, 31 May 2007 21:32:33 -0700

and two to say, “that’s not how eric gill would have done it...”

2 pompous snots to prance

Linda Cunningham — Thu, 31 May 2007 21:22:31 -0700

2 pompous snots to prance about, trying to out-poser each other, and piss higher up a rope than the other, for at least a year, to be laughed at by others.

Why is everybody fighting AGAIN?

pattyfab — Wed, 24 May 2006 21:45:05 -0700

I’m just asking... but there are some really nasty threads going on.

I say take it outside, boys.