One of the disadvantages of written communication (as opposed to live interaction) is that subtleties are often lost.

I wrote up an account of a meeting here at work just yesterday. I had a point of view, and that came through in my account. If I were delivering the summary verbally, you could detect a bit of a tongue-in-cheek attitude. I got a comment back from someone on my written account -- "too strident". I responded to his written account, "not strident enough".

In that same way, I think a very small minority of people misinterpreted the good-natured Commander Catcop stuff as being too strident. I think some of the other flames going on are as a result of misintrepation of satire/humor. (I wasn't offended by "eurotrash" because I thought the person who wrote that wasn't being serious -- he was more Archie Bunker than John Rocker. And my wife is German). I know my own sense of humor is an acquired taste (my wife is still working on acquiring it after 8 years).

As for cliques: I like to see people being friends and liking each other, nothing wrong with that. It can't really be a clique if you post everything in public, anyway.

I haven't met you yet, Catman (we've chatted a few times on the Live Chat), but I'm sure I'll like you (I'll be at the FAQ, maybe you can prove me wrong )

And I enjoy your contributions to the board (even though I'm horribly allergic to cats), capital letters and all.


[This message has been edited by opus17 (edited 07-11-2000).]