Kicked off a mailing list

[RBW1]

On Mon, 2004-12-06 at 16:57, Lan Barnes wrote:
> It's finally happened, and I'm probably long overdue for it. I was
> kicked off a mailing list I just joined -- on my first post.
> 
> I'm the first to admit that I can be perceived as:
> 
>   obnoxious
>   superior
>   condescending
>   annoying
>   __________________<your complaint here>
> 
> Nevertheless, I've lasted on Kooler ... I think this list moderator may
> have a short fuse.
> 
> The list was biofuels. It seemed loosey-goosey, kinda like Kooler. The
> rules expressly said it was an anything-goes list.
> 
> There was a guy posting -- no names, but his signature was way-white
> bread -- who was into 1337 speak; u for you, lots of repeated r's and
> l's. I didn't think he was a foreigner struggling with English as a
> second language. I found it unintelligible. I said so. I thought I was
> medium abrasive but not over the top.
> 
> I should say that I take language seriously. I don't mind abbreviations,
> and loss of the shift key is no sin. I read jhriv with relish. But I
> take pains with my emails, spell checking and proofreading. I think the
> reason we do this is to communicate, and I find it offensive when anyone
> thinks s/he is too cute to make a minimum effort ... indeed, makes a
> contrary effort. Content is what I'm after. 

While I might have an additional entry for the above fill in the blank
(wink, wink), and I can occasionally be uncharacteristically too
sensitive I found your predicament and the following interesting. I
guess you and this guy are onto something...

NYT QUOTATION OF THE DAY 7Dec2004
"E-mail is a party to which English teachers have not been invited. It
has companies tearing their hair out."
R. CRAIG HOGAN, a former professor who heads an online school for
business writing.
 
> The moderator sent me back a red-hot reply demanding that I apologize. I
> replied (off-list) that if he (the moderator) had any special knowledge
> of why I should cut this person some slack (a broken keyboard, cerebral
> palsy), I'd be happy too. Otherwise, I stood by my post.

And about that disability on the part of the writer, you couldn't have
known (yes you could have lurked longer) but... even so no matter what
you did it does not absolve the writer from clear communication
requirements. Seems to me that's quite an independent issue that you can
never be too sensitive to for constructive criticism.

RBW