On Wed, Jun 3, 2009 at 10:40 PM, Srini RamaKrishnan <che...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Ahem, that bit about the address, that would be me, and I think I've > apologized a few times to all parties concerned. It was at least to me > an intellectual exercise in proving a point that went wrong. [.....]
btw, bringing it up was not to portray you (i didnt remember it was you till you waved) as evil or anything else for that matter. A faux pas for me may be an intellectual exercise for another. Mileages vary, but that instance was vividly stuck in my memory in an unrelated way** which was instrumental in defining the way i participate online over the years. This thread is also a reminder of the differences in the way men and women interact online. Afaik (a guess really) lawnun is a woman and taking another wild guess, i'd speculate that the anonymous conversationalist is a man (btw, since you are a member and are reading this, feel free to stem my speculative ramblings but i must say I am very curious about why a nick or the lack of a real name bothers you so :)) ** The first time i stopped lurking to ask for help on a linux-related list, two helpful off-list responses veered into uncharted territory teaching me to keep my online footprint to a minimum. > Perhaps because the list of members, as Deepa points out, is > semi-transparent, Silk remains the smallish list I joined many years > ago where I knew most people IRL. Of course it is not the case, and > there are all sorts of 'strangers' who read it on the public archives > and never subscribe and all that. If I really paid any attention to > the size of the list and the number of strangers (to me) on it, I > would probably clam up and never participate. Why clam up? People who interact online get introduced to the social norms, and most lists have their own idiosyncrasies -- text-only, no attachments, bottom or in-line posting, etc.... (that last one calls out to deepa ^_^) ; either self-taught or via soft nudges from folks they interact with. The process is a public one in full view of strangers when you talk of archived lists and silk is no exception. -- .
