Beedle the Bard available on 4 December 2008!

[astrodad]

Originally Posted by stepanok

We're talking about Scotland actually...(strange people these evangelical Americans..)

huh? Are you referring to me or someone else?

[HarryT]

Do you consider yourself to be a carrier of good news?

[JSWolf]

The HP 6 just plodded along. Was a rather slow read and a battle to actually finish it. I think it's the weakest of the 7.

[nekokami]

Regarding stepanok:



There are many places on the internet where flamebaiting is considered perfectly acceptable. Mobileread isn't one of them. We can certainly disagree about whether a book is enjoyable here, or of high quality. We can also disagree (particularly in the Lounge) about any number of non-book related topics, such as political positions or linguistic usage. Some of our disagreements get quite heated at times (particularly those involving DRM and/or copyright).

However, what we do not accept here is posting provocative statements purely for the purpose of being provocative. That is a hobby best pursued elsewhere.

[stepanok]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Regarding stepanok:



There are many places on the internet where flamebaiting is considered perfectly acceptable. Mobileread isn't one of them. We can certainly disagree about whether a book is enjoyable here, or of high quality. We can also disagree (particularly in the Lounge) about any number of non-book related topics, such as political positions or linguistic usage. Some of our disagreements get quite heated at times (particularly those involving DRM and/or copyright).

However, what we do not accept here is posting provocative statements purely for the purpose of being provocative. That is a hobby best pursued elsewhere.

I honestly find the above extremely provocative. If you dont want to read something, then dont....and certainly dont reply to it

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by stepanok

Scotland?? sounds like a British colony, still, I dont have an atlas handy, but i'm in Greece( is that ok with you?? )...

Greece is crap... or is it where people dump crap? I can't remember.

BOb

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by HarryT

No disrespect to you, but if you're not a native English-speaker, you may perhaps not appreciate the enormous difference between the meaning of those two statements. The first is expressing a personal preference - nobody would argue with that. The second is stating an absolute fact about the value of them, and that's insulting.

Harry,

I am also a native English speaker (real English not that British crap).

Anyway, while I agree that his phrasing was declarative, knowing he was talking about a book I took his statement to be subjective and not objective since there is no true rating of such for art. Beauty being in the eye of the beholder and all.

BOb

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by stepanok

I honestly find the above extremely provocative. If you dont want to read something, then dont....and certainly dont reply to it

Ehm.

Nekokami is a Moderator, stepanok, we Mods don't have quite the same "freedom to ignore" that the average member does, and we have a responsibility to the whole Community to step in and say something when things seem to need it. For example, the Mods have all pretty much tacitly agreed that we should forgo using the forum's "Ignore" feature, though we do occasionally encourage others to use it in some circumstances.

One of the primary defining characteristics of the MobileRead Community is that it is, by and large, very civil and respectful in the tone of its discussions. Considering the ... volatility of some of the topics, it's remarkable just how un-inflamed the discussions are.

Frankly, this characteristic is the only reason I ever stayed around the forum more than a week or two in the first place. I know that civility is widely appreciated amongst the members here because it's really the members that keep it that way.

If we occasionally seem, perhaps, a bit protective of that civility of tone, it's only because we know how rare it is in the online world and we want to preserve it. And we know that we can't without the support of the membership.

[acidzebra]

Well, this thread could have been closed or moved to the lounge on or after, say, page 1.

[Patricia]

Originally Posted by stepanok

I honestly find the above extremely provocative. If you dont want to read something, then dont....and certainly dont reply to it

Well, there is a bit of a problem here.
If I were to decide that the Harry Potter books were not to my taste then it is easy to avoid reading them.
But if a person makes controversial statements in a thread that I'm following, then there's no way to tell until I've actually read the controversial statement and ascertained that the statement is not backed by evidence, and is really merely a statement of personal opinion. And, having read it, there's no way to un-read it, is there?
So, might I respectfully suggest that stepanok takes his own advice and doesn't read the comment by Nekokami? (I don't actually see how this is possible, but it seems to be what he recommends in these circumstances. Oh dear. I think that I'm getting a headache. )
Alternatively, a return to the original topic might just work. Or any other topic, for that matter.

[JSWolf]

Please stop with the this or that is crap. It can be offensive to some.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Please stop with the this or that is crap. It can be offensive to some.

Personally, I don't let things that people that I don't even know post on an internet forum, especially if it is purely subjective bother or offend me.

BOb

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by astra

Anyone who post on forum, in general IMHO!, state their personal opinion. Sure we could type IMHO after every sentence, but it would make posting a chore So, well at least that is how I read others' people posts, I always look at them as personal opinion about something, unless told otherwise.

I see what you're saying, astra, and I think it's good advice, as it happens.

However, the "IMHO's" aren't really needed, per se, either literally or assumed. It's really not that difficult to pick up on the non-explicit textual clues that tell the reader how you view what you're saying. For example, I see from your post (from the parts I snipped out, actually ) that you seem to have no trouble picking up on those cues, and I get the impression that English may not be your native tongue.

For example, I could say, "I did/didn't like such and such." That conveys quite clearly that I view what I'm saying as an opinion.

If I were to say, "Ice cream is wonderful!" that suggests that I hold the wonderfulness of ice cream to be an incontestable fact. Which, of course, it actually is ... maybe I'll go have a bowl in a minute.

At the same time, most folks who are inclined to think such things through, and who have been around long enough to do so, realize that what I really meant was that I consider ice cream to be wonderful, but the very nature of the statement, the way it's worded, proclaims that I regard the claim as a fact.

Now bald proclamations certainly have a legitimate place in discussions like the one we're having, but it's generally regarded as a good idea to at least be able to provide support for them, otherwise folks tend to start dismissing the things they say as ... not well thought out. That of course, tends to be counterproductive to whatever point the writer is trying to make.

[stepanok]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Greece is crap... or is it where people dump crap? I can't remember.

BOb

You obviously never went to school

You're way out of line

[Patricia]

Originally Posted by stepanok

If you dont want to read something, then dont....and certainly dont reply to it

Ipse dixit.