Guido

[Bryan Young]

Guido's original post said roughly:
"a significant portion of the audience will love... [any piece of crap]"

This goes beyond expressing an opinion.  It goes beyond a simple complaint.
It's an implicit insult to Colm's opinion.  It implies that:

1)  Colm's opinion is worthless compared to Guido's, and the website is crap
2)  Colm is stupid for thinking that this crap is good

Now, Paul, I understand the beauty of freedom of speech, and I do not wish
to become the thought police.  Mark gets in trouble for bashing Guido, but
why does Guido not get in trouble for bashing Colm?

He went beyond expressing his opinion about aesthetics & navigation.  Reread
that message and see how you can not be insulted if your name is Colm, or if
you are one of his friends.

Why do we have to fight on this list?  Why can't Colm say he enjoys the
website, and Guido can say how he wishes it was totally redesigned, and
nobody insult the other?  And now Paul, who is another friend of mine that I
do not wish to offend, tells us we should not bash Guido (who bashed Colm),
and he's right.  But maybe this advice was a bit slow, and should have been
directed to Guido, as he seems to be the original voice to crush dissenting
opinion on the matter.

"Guido, don't become the thought police.  Just because you don't like the
website does not mean that intelligent people elsewhere might enjoy the
sense of mystique and the curious structure that embodies its design.
Dissenting opinion is a good thing in a diverse group of people."

Peace and Hawkwind.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Mather" <paul at GROMIT.DLIB.VT.EDU>
To: <BOC-L at LISTSERV.SPC.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, September 25, 2002 6:56 AM
Subject: Re: Guido


> On Wed, Sep 25, 2002 at 08:36:00AM +0000, mark cotton wrote:
> => I don't post to this site very often but I read it daily, and at least
my
> => contributions are positive. I've never seen anything of yours, other
than
> => your self-opinionated whinging about the website. I know your opinion
of it
> => now, after having it (uninvitingly) rammed in my face every time
something
> => happens on the website that does not not meet with your expert
approval. Now
> => would you do me a favour and SHUT THE F*CK UP!
>
> What are you, the thought police?
>
> This is disgraceful.  Guido has been on this list literally for years,
> and if you care to go back over the archives, you'll find he has made
> many positive contributions to the list and its society.
>
> What I find disturbing as of late is the orthodoxy that is becoming so
> cloying on BOC-L now.  It seems there is little tolerance for
> dissenting voices.  You can't dislike the Web site.  You can't
> complain about the band.  You can't like Nik because you are being
> disloyal to Dave.  You can't do this, you can't do that.  The Emperor
> is wearing a fine set of threads.
>
> The irony in this, for me, is that years ago we used to scoff at "the
> other" Blue Oyster Cult group as being a group of uncritical drooling
> fanboys.  Look at what we're becoming...
>
> It's a sad day indeed when a complaint can't be seen as a positive
> thing.
>
> I apologise in advance for expressing an opinion.  I'll "STFU" now.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Paul.
>
> e-mail: paul at gromit.dlib.vt.edu
>
> "We know you will be very happy here.  Nobody has complained... yet."
>         --- Hawkwind, "Utopia"