Spam Scone wrote:
R.P. Warren wrote:
Both rgcp and rgcm seem to be increasingly taken up by dissonant
duets,
by which I mean endless petty squabbles between two individuals.

When in Rome....

Examples are Wlod-vs-Nick, Villiers-vs-Cruderman, Innes-vs-Brennen,

Actually, His I-ness is crusading against someone named Neil Brennan,
as his posts make clear. What Innes has against a prof at Villanova I
can't say.

and
Ray Gordon versus anyone who looks at him cross-eyed, to name but a
few. While each of these persons (with the exception of Gordon) may
occasionally, or even frequently, contribute something of worth or
interest, their exchanges with each other generally boil down to
something like:

'I'm right, and you're a liar'.
'No, I'M right, YOU'RE a liar'.
'Oh yeah? Well, you stink'.
'No, I smell good, YOU stink'.
'Oh yeah? Well, you're a @#$%^&*+~'!
'Yeah? Well, you're a }+*&^%$#@'!!

And so on. These exchanges not only accomplish nothing, but
persuade
no
one of anything, except perhaps of the immaturity of the posters.
Moreover, they are simply boring. Therefore, I wish to suggest a
few
guidelines:

1. When you are insulted, it is not necessary to respond. No one
should
think less of you if you choose not to dignify a boor by responding
-
quite the opposite. It is no more necessary than it is to reply to
every dog that barks.

Suppose the dog accuses you of criminal activity? Or threatens
violence
against you?

2. If you do respond to an insult, do not respond in kind. That
merely
lowers you to the same level. Stick to the issue. If there is no
issue
other than the insult, forget it.

Agreed.

3. Some of these feuds have gone on so long that no one remembers
how
they started, no one can tell who is 'right' or 'wrong', and
furthermore nobody cares. Quit beating a dead horse.

But often the horse is not dead. For instance, we are still waiting
for
the source of the following alleged "quotation":

"Good God! He [Henry Miller] is perhaps the only American writer of
note after
Clemens."

4. If you disagree with someone on some point, confine your
response
to
that point. Do not add insults or personal attacks.

I realize that if everyone followed these rules, we would probably
cut
the number of posts on rgcp and rgcm by at least 50%, and the
volume
for certain individuals would drop by at least 90%. In my opinion,
that
would be a good thing, for both them and us.

Pay per view?