On Tue, 8 Aug 2000, Faustus von Goethe wrote:
> Alec, please stop attacking me.
>
> While you might not agree with everything I say I have ONLY responded
> to you negatively when you flamed or denigrated a viewpoint that was
> either valid, expressed as an OPINION, or at least worthy of dicussion
> or consideration.
Faust, I have not attacked or flamed you. I have criticized both
arguments you have made and the manner in which you have made them.
Neither is an attack on you. If you intend to play devil's advocate, you
must be willing to accept criticism of your arguments. This is especially
true if you are going to engage in the practice of creating the
counter-argument that you are claiming to be refuting rather than directly
responding to arguements made by other people.
> Alec let me explain something. Since I began posting to this group
> early this year under the names "Faust the Cynic", "Faust the
> Unbeliever", and (most often) "Faust the Devil's Advocate" I have made
> it my business to intentionally take the devil's advocate position on
> many of these issues. I am on several boards including two whose
> memebers long since abandoned this list as too "pro WotC". I make the
> effort to include their objections in our discussion - even some of
> theirs that are "over the top - because whether they feel they belong
> or NOT, they ARE interested parties for the OGL.
>
> I strongly feel that this has contributed positively to the discussion
> - in many cases like it has in this discussion - by bringing those
> into the discussion who have more knowledge, experience, and resources
> to definitively answer some of those questions.
You may feel that way, but since I find many of the points you have
attempted to make to be completely lacking in any validity, especially
when you have attempted to explain legal decisions and statutes, I
disagree. Continuing to expound legal viewpoints which aren't supported
by either statute or court decisions is not only NOT helpful to the
discussion, it is harmful, in my opinion.
> Alec, please stop attacking me. If you have nothing else to say, at least
> take it off the list and contact me directly.
>
> If you are spoiling for a fight and want to feel important because you put
> in two hours to compose an eloquent and stinging response to somebody's
> offhand opinion, usenet is just a few clicks away. Go for it.
Since I haven't attacked you, it is going to be difficult for me to stop.
You on the other hand have distorted my statements far beyond anything I
have said and then responded to that distortion as if it were my claim.
In your last message that I responded to, you essentially attempted to
claim that I, Clark or Sean (the only admitted holders of law degrees on
this listserv) would make a certain argument - an argument that I would
not have made. If you can't deal with being criticized for making
arguments that lack support or have large logical holes in them, I really
don't know what to say.
Btw, I've never needed more the 5-10 minutes to respond to anything on
this list, so I thank you for the praise of my writing abilities.
later,
alec
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