I am goiong to try again to post this under a new heading because no
one will read it bec. of the stupid title. It think it has some useful
tech. info.
Dear Steve and All,
Steve Kramer wrote:
> Leah: Not only off topic, but Doug will not likely see it. He cross
> posted.
I really do apologize. It was in the wee hrs. of the night and I was
lonely and bored and the subject happened to interest me. Too bad. You
see, I am taking a lot of caffeine as a treatment for migraines (with
the doc's approval) and if you do that you'll not only be all wired up
but if you take it at night you will end up with insomnia. Always used
to dose off when I hit the pillow.
Anyway, mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa.
About the cross posting I have a couple of things to say:
First, I don't really understand the concept but I think I am starting
to get the idea. I have really made an effort to learn the etiquette
of online conversation (like joining alt.newusers and reading a number
of articles about ng's) but I find that the only thing that helps is
experience. I have a real problem with some of my MLs because if I post
something there I end up getting email from everybody else who posts on
the thread...or something like that. Haven't figured it out yet. I
also got a nice letter from the moderator of the yahoo newsgroup
telling me that in order to post in the right place all I should do is
hit the "reply" button. Well, what does he think I'd been doing? Worst
of all, I can't manage my mail without a secretary.
I don't think you old-timers realize how confounding all this can be.
You know I stopped reading the msgs from alt.newusers because they were
so technical I couldn't understand any of it.
BTW, I have NEVER added another addressee when posting or responding to
any msg in this group. I looked at some of the archives here and
someone had said the way to tell if someone is c-p is to click on
"reply" and see who the addressees are. You know I don't do this
habitually and i'm actually wondering if it would even work if I
clicked the delete button.
You vets can probably sense when somebody is crossposting but I don't
possess that instinct. Sometimes I will click on "profile" and see
what other msgs the author is posting. But that doesn't tell me if
he's cross-posting in this case.
You know I think what happened here is what netlingo calls
"cross-roasting". I thought it was an interesting word so i snipped
it: (BTW, net lingo has NO entry for cross-posting??) Anyway,
crossroasting is:
"The act of following up a message posted to a Usenet newsgroup by
adding one or more additional newsgroups to the response in an effort
to bring the original post to the attention of those likely to flame
it. For example, in a follow-up to a particularly over-the-top feminist
rant, a cross-roaster might add the post to alt.mens-rights and
soc.men." Touche.
Do you have any idea how long It took for me to figure out the above
definition?? I certainly don't want to encourage the women-haters.
You know there are a lot of of misogynists who also happen to have pc
(I think there's a link) so they also post here. Does that mean
they're cross-posting?
I don't know why c-p is always a bad thing. Consider this real-life
situation: I belong to this group and also to alt.impotence. So let's
say I post something about ED to both groups and somebody from the
impotency group responds with a topical answer. Is that bad?
It would really be a service if you would "define" certain things for
newbies like what's off-topic. And also apply the rules to everybody.
There's somebody here who regularly talks about politics, the Iraq war,
the bad behavior of the underprivileged and so forth and I don't see
him being called on it.
Also, on the topic of what's appropriate I realize I have posted some
really long messages. Some of them include reprints of articles. Is
this okay? You know people refer you to great places but if I just get
a URL I'm not going to go there and I might be missing out...
The other day I gave my husband something I was going to post and asked
him to edit it and I told him to show no mercy, to slash away, and he
did. So maybe I'll get a second opinion more often.
There is one important thing about my posting that I have to set
straight:
The worst thing is that I gave JJ a post to read and he said I sounded
like an EVANGELIST because I had quoted something from the bible! I was
horrified bec. I'm no bible thumper and i hope people don't think I'm
preaching to them! That's not my intent. It happens to be that the
biggest struggle of my life involved extricating myself from a
fundamentalist religious sect, so I don't take dogma from anybody. I
make my own decisions. So, if you got the wrong impression, please
understand that I am not a religious fanatic nor a superstitious
person. I have spoken up for religious groups like Evangelicals here
only because I was sticking up for the underdog and also for the right
of people to express relig. beliefs in these groups and not be
ridiculed for it.
I assure you that like AM, I believe in the God of Science and that's
how I run my life but unlike AM, I think He is not infallible!
Please understand that I have quoted the Good Book only because it has
a lot of beauty and poetry in it. Look at any quotations website and
you will see will tons of entries under "Bible." I read the bible as
lit -- but maybe I hope it will turn into something more.
I think religion is an appropriate topic here, to a LIMITED degree,
because a lot of sick and dying people look to religion for comfort
Some of the acronyms and abbreviations mentioned in this group are not
listed on pca glossaries or even the prostatepointers site that Tom
recommended. It's nice to have a "secret" language and it does help to
have shortcuts for commonly used words but sometimes not understanding
an acronym could have real consequences. Frex: I may be slow but for
the longest time I couldn't figure out what SE meant. For some reason I
thought what it meant was the ultimate side-effect: death. Of course
this affected the way I perceived whatever I was reading. Also looked
up PPOR the other day and couldn't find it anywhere but I think I have
an idea.
It would really be a service to newbies to post a list of the most
commonly used terms as an FAQ. I would be willing to compile it.
Having said that, why is there no shortcut for words we use ALL the
time, say Incontinence?? Why not just call it I? Or Erection? How
about just E?
Best to you all and Happy New Year.
Leah