Rudeness with names

[Lulu of the Lotus-Eaters]

|> >> [Aahz didn't like me calling anonymous posters "anonymous cowards"]
|> >>- anonymous posters
|> >>- top-posting
|> >>- broken quoting
|I have seen Gerhard using "anonymous cowards" before and liked
|the joke. I didn't imagine it could be taken seriously as an offence.

I didn't think the "anonymous coward" was meant in a bad way.  But I
-do- think it kinda misses the nature of the medium.  On /.  (and
similar webboards, but that's the one where the term comes from), you
actually -can- write posts with no return address or identifying info.

Usenet is just different:  EVERY poster has a From:  field in their
header.  So the idea of an AC is misguided.  The closest it comes is
when posters mangle their addresses in a (misguided) effort to stop
spammers from harvesting it.  Those posters are closer to being AC than
are those who just have somewhat unusual netnames.

I know how Aahz feels, FWIW.  I can hardly count the number of times
discussants (mostly on other groups) have slighted my dear old dad Mr.
Lotus, and my sweet mother Ms. Eaters.

Yours, Lulu...

--
mertz@  | The specter of free information is haunting the `Net!  All the
gnosis  | powers of IP- and crypto-tyranny have entered into an unholy
.cx     | alliance...ideas have nothing to lose but their chains.  Unite
        | against "intellectual property" and anti-privacy regimes!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------