Author: Bruce Moreland
Date: 11:20:05 09/23/98
Go up one level in this thread
On September 23, 1998 at 07:26:18, Djordje Vidanovic wrote: >If the only comment about Thorsten's conduct is "unpleasant manner", then you >yourself should curb your outburst of unpleasantness. Because if you say that >you are glad [that someone is] "gone", it is sheer unpleasantness for me... Do >you think that you should be pegged down for a yellow card now? I think his comment is fine, even if he stopped there. >This clearly shows that the Thorsten affair was dealt with not only prematurely, >but unwisely. All kinds of sentiments will start coming up now, and Peter >Gilgasch seems to be right: we should start doubting our own ability to carry >on in this forum. Walking on one's tiptoes (metaphorically speaking) has never >been productive, and we'd surely like to have fruitful discussion here and not >worry too much about the amount of enthusiasm, conviction and, if need be, >intellectual aggression while voicing our opinions. Which is exactly what >Thorsten was doing. For me it was only intellectual aggression, stemming from >his absolute conviction. His conviction may have been, and may be, quite wrong >(which I think it often was), but we should recognise it as purely intellectual >-- and not malevolent, which I am positive it was not. Thorsten is and always will be the most problematic poster in this group. Often he writes posts that are, to use your words, intellectually aggressive. I have been on the receiving end of these for several years. I have learned to live with this. I think that others deal with these post differently, and might wish him ill will because of these posts. Hard to avoid any of this. And if it was limited to this, I would have a very easy job. I would simply roll my eyes whenever I saw one of these posts, and prepare to defend him. I would just repeat the "I am doing the right thing" mantra over and over, and grit my teeth. The easy part of the job, as I said. Thorsten's output is much more complex than this. He doesn't just give you the unpopular minority line. He also makes comments about your wife's sexual response. Or he calls you stupid. Or he says, you think this way because ... and then you get some nice bigotry about your country or your religion or your economic philosophy or whatever. Or he says some other thing that he didn't have to say to make his point, which does nothing to help make his point, and which is a direct shot at you personally. This doesn't happen in every post, but it happens enough that it is hard to simply brush off. Thorsten was not suspended because of his viewpoint on any issue regarding computer chess, or for his style of presentation of his viewpoint on any issue having to do with computer chess. He was suspended because he made direct and gratuitious (unnecessary from any viewpoint, including, I would hope, his own) personal attacks, continued doing this after being warned not to, and seemed unlikely to stop doing this. Anyone who wants to pick on someone because of their religion, or make comments about someone's personal life, had better expect to to be asked, by the moderators, to stop doing this. Anyone who wants to express a controversial on-topic opinion should expect to receive from the moderators only support and protection. bruce
This page took 0 seconds to execute
Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700
Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.