Our Digest -- *we* are the problem (Was: Mark Kibort)

[Brian M Kennedy <kennedy@xxxxxx>]

[Richard, this is not really about Kibort.  Its about the digest as a whole.]

Steve D'Gerolamo wrote:
> 
> One of the primary reasons I've stopped posting to this list is because of
> the annoying posts by Mr. Kibort.  He has now infected the Porsche digest
> as well.

Yes, Mark did join the Porsche list.  Did you notice the difference though?
There were a few posts calmly questioning most of the same issues raised here.
But it was done without any flames for his inability to write clear English.

And actually the more interesting objections were to his estimates for how long
you spend at WOT on certain tracks.  Henry Watts and a couple others asserted
Mark's estimates were quite low (30s vs. 107s per lap at Laguna).  Actually an 
interesting discussion.

Anyway, there's been zero heat and I think the Kibort episode on the Porsche
list is over -- a mere day after it started!

In contrast, Mark was thoroughly assaulted in public repeatedly (and redundantly)
on this digest.  Almost ANYONE publicly assaulted will respond point-by-point to 
defend themselves (even if it is a redundant defense).  Its natural and you all 
should expect it -- I cannot really fault someone for publicly defending 
themselves.  Some call this the "crygest" -- I think the "frygest" may be more
appropriate.  Basically the same post from Mark resulted in a hundred flames the
first few days, and then has been going on and on for weeks now.  Mark's behavior
was the same in both lists.

And the Kibort'ian threads are just one example.  This Digest is a very vicious
place.  Threads regularly get hot -- and heat is almost never useful to the list
as a whole.  Even some "flamers" lists aren't as vicious as this digest.  I often
see apples-to-apples comparisons between threads in the Porsche and BMW lists;
and the resulting differences are consistent.

Read the "Scratching the itch" note by Paul Drawmer.  Ask yourself if you are
essentially forcing a response from the same person you want to go away.  Have
you ever seen someone annoying go away from being flamed?  Almost never.  Usually
the only ones that leave are the intelligent people who make the digest worth 
visiting.

Next time you go to push the send button with a response to someone, ask yourself:

  * Are a significant number of digesters going to learn something from this post?
  * Are a significant number of digesters going to enjoy this post?
  * Will this post make the digest a better place for the BMW gurus to spend 
    their time?

If you cannot answer yes to at least one of those, you should probably send it 
privately or just discard it.  And yes, I've discarded numerous fully written
posts.  In fact, I am now debating whether to send this one.  I hope it satisfies
the latter question, but I fear it may result in yet another hot thread where
people argue that I am an idiot and the differences between the BMW Digest and
the Porsche list do not really exist.  Hmmm.  Decisions, decisions.  ;^)

Have a nice day,

Brian

P.S.  I just decided to send this; but it was only after letting it sit for a couple
hours and re-reading it half a dozen times.  Small price compared to inflicting it
on the whole digest.  I hope I've made the right choice.

P.P.S.  Steve, I hope you stick around -- I'd hate to lose your contributions (they
are very high on the usefulness-to-heat ratio ;^).

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