On Fri, 18 Apr 1997, Shadow Dancer wrote:

Uh, guys?  This list was intended for polite discussion and posting of
fanfics, right?  No matter how "deserving" someone might be of a flame,
is it all that difficult to hit "Reply to Sender" as opposed to "Reply
to All"?  We don't need to see this.  And I speak as one who's flamed
before.  And the guy apologized already, so let's drop it, okay?

There was a flame war, and I missed it?

I guess so...

WW, would you mind making a policy statement banning public flaming?  I
think this has happened once too often in the past couple of months or
so.  (three or four times, I think)

Hey, flames are a legitimate way of communicating information.  It's 
just that there are certain levels you should not go to.  <reads back 
through mail> I guess that this experience in flames is an accurate 
testament to the fact that people will defend what they love too 
much.  True, that first guy (dang, forgot his name already) went way 
out of line, but then, so did the second person (It's not me!  I just 
keep...forgetting.) as well.

Flames are a legitimate way of pissing off a whole group of people, too.
And some people are willing to go to *any* level of flame.  Flamewars
are perfectly fine, but THIS LIST was not meant for flamewars.  It's
here for *polite* discussion and posting of fanfics.  If you must flame,
do it over email, and "communicate your opinion" that way.  That way,
the rest of us are free to similarly voice our own opinion, or go on,
cheerfully ignorant of the evil that lurks in the hearts of men.  :P

Saying down with flames is saying down with communication.  
Technically, when you look at it, almost every time you comment, you 
are flaming...it is just the _way_ you comment that determines how 
people read your C&C.  Excessive vulgarism is usually referred to as 
"flames" right now.  Maybe even a little (maybe a single occurrance 
of a four-letter-word, or a slight opinion on something) vulgarism 
will be referred to as flames in a short while.  It all depends on 
how you look at it.

Perhaps the excessive vulgarism, which would tend to incite people to
strong emotions, is what should be kept off of the list, then.

Bearing in mind what I just said, asking White Wolf to ban all flames 
is asking him to shut down the list.

I'm asking to ban *this* kind of flames.  I think that's reasonable.
Don't you?

Damon Casale, damoo@carmelnet.com
Spam, spam!  WONDERFUL spam!  ^_^