[NatCh]

Originally Posted by astra

Definitely, NatCh.
Otherwise, it would be a waste of time to be here.
This forum has became one of the most interesting places for me in the last year.

I wouldn't have stayed around for two years myself if it weren't so.

Originally Posted by astra

I believe you are being very PC

Well, I like to think of it as recognizing merit where I find it, whether I find it compelling or not, but you could call it PC if you want, I guess, I just really dislike that particular term.

Originally Posted by astra

I disagree with you about some people forgetting about bad things and remembering only good ones. Yes, sure there are members who are just like that, however, there is another kind who believe in: we bought it, it is ....(I am going to be very PC as well) lousy, but I am going to suggest it to others anyway because what I have absolutely must be better than what I didn't buy and I want others to have the same reader as I have even though it is shi..lousy.

You're right, of course, some folks just feel that everyone else has to do the same thing they did so they feel validated (I have an uncle that's pretty bad about that, but that's another story). However, I find my blood-pressure stays lower if I "assume" the absence of malice. I know it's not always absent, but that assumption allows me to deal with things more constructively. There's always time to deal with things destructively when it becomes clear that malice isn't absent. That's the way I look at it, anyway.

Originally Posted by astra

So, I advice people to read the forum quite well, not superficially.

And it's very good advice. Everyone has biases, no matter how objective they try to be. I don't see how those who won't admit this can be doing much to counteract their own biases.

Originally Posted by astra

I probably belong to this cathegory, although I point both sides, good and bad.

I'd agree that you do. Your posts come across to my readings as being particularly concerned about giving as accurate a picture as you can. That's something I appreciate and applaud. It's very good for this community, and for life in general, I think.

Originally Posted by astra

When I showed my reader to a friend(speaking about positive sides of the reader) and she got really exited about it and said her husband would be very interested, I immediately, said: Well...I am not sure Sony Reader would be the best choice for him. There is another reader that supports dictionaries. Why did I say it? Because he is linguist and he teaches different languages and would like to have a dictionary on the reader.

That's an excellent example. Over Christmas, I recommended that my step-mother would probably be happier with a Kindle, because what she wants out of a reading device best matches (so far) the features of the Kindle. Obviously I like the Sony better, but I realize not everyone wants/needs the same things I want/need so it's not the best match for everyone. I like to think I have a solid enough self-concept that it's not bothered by that.

Originally Posted by astra

I disagree with you that by applying a knowledge I have gathered here and attempting to give the best advice to her, I was a pessimist who concentrate only on negatives sides. I believe it is a honest approach.

Well, you can't disagree with me that way, actually, because I don't think that you were being pessimistic either. I probably should have said that some folks are more scrupulous than others about pointing out the not-so-good features, along with the good ones than others. I blame bronchitis and antibiotics that are making me just a bit loopy for being imprecise.

Everything is a trade-off, reading devices no less than anything else, and I very much think that the more folks know about all the features (good and bad), and the practical effects of them, the better off they are, because they are more likely to make a choices they can be happy with. And as I frequently say (though it's been a while), that's the important bit.