On fighting fire with fire...

[Jarek Zgoda]

skip at pobox.com napisał(a):

> Twice today I responded to rude messages (once here, once on the SpamBayes
> list) whose authors didn't deserve the benefit of my time.  In both cases,
> other people rightfully responded with some small amount of return venom
> (but provided useful responses nonetheless).
> 
> Let me suggest that there is only one "correct" way to respond (if you are
> going to respond at all) to such messages.  That's to focus on the substance
> of their message and completely ignore the rancor.  I've been the chief
> technical guy (including user support) for Musi-Cal for over ten years and
> for Mojam for about seven years.  During that time I've received lots of
> thanks from people for the service those sites provide.  Every once in
> awhile though, I get a message out of the blue from someone who is either
> simply an asshole or is having the mother of all bad days.  I've found there
> is nothing so satisfying as responding politely to such messages and then to
> have their authors come virtually crawling back later with an apology for
> having been so out-of-line.

Did you read this article on online discussions in Hacknot? 
http://www.hacknot.info/hacknot/action/showEntry?eid=72 One of the most 
usable, I think. ;)

-- 
Jarek Zgoda
http://jpa.berlios.de/