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In article >,
(Gal Called J.J.) wrote:

> One time on Usenet, ojunk (Mama2EandJ) said:
>
> > This group never ceases to amaze me. Some of the clique can say
whatever they
> > please, no matter how offensive, but when someone else does it....it's
not ok.
> > I left once before and I see not one damn thing has changed, so I'm done for
> > good this time.
>
> This post puzzles me -- I've popped in and out of RFC for several
> years now, under several names, and while there are a few folks who
> may seem more chummy with each other, it's often because they've met
> in person at a cook-in. Everyone is welcome to attend those, so that
> can hardly be called a "clique" thing.

I have a favorite uncle (actually, both my uncles are favorite uncles).
He often says really obnoxious things. Sometimes I think that he doesn't
really mean them, and he's just trying to stir things up. Other times, I
know he means them. But, he's been nice to me my whole life, and nice to
the other relatives. He's nice to people who aren't relatives also. He
has a lot of close friends all over the world, because he was in the Air
Force for 25 years, and he was foreign-born. He's my mother's brother,
which causes a lot of forgiveness right there. So, he says something
obnoxious, and we ignore it. However, if a stranger said the same thing,
that's it. We only have that one thing to judge them on, and it isn't
good.

It's the same way on this newsgroup. A regular says something obnoxious,
and maybe it will be ignored because of the previous valuable things they
have posted. A newcomer posts the same thing, and since that is all we
have to judge them on, we dump on them.

--
Dan Abel
Sonoma State University
AIS