Civility
 

As one who has been, as a moderator, privy to numerous blowups on TDE and elsewhere, I want to applaud those who participate here for the high level of civility that obtains. It's true that our crits may not be as trenchant as those elsewhere and that we mainly gather here for mutual amusement, but it's a welcome relief to visit a forum where EGO isn't the only driving force (though MONEY may be!). So, thanks to John and you other regulars for keeping this forum below the boiling point.

I truly think the money, though small, may have something to do with it. Somebody said to me once, 'Never play cards except for money', and I think that is excellent advice. I was a card-player in my youth, everything from Contract Bridge to an extraordinary game known as 'Bald Phantoms' where you bet reckless halfpennies on a card you could not see though everyone else could - my that would shift the threepenny bits! And did I win? Yes, by the Lord Harry, I usually did. And God bless my old Bridge Partner, Richard Hogg, who died a full Professor.

I bow to Mammon and John Whitworth. Who could ever be uncivil to such a tremendous pair of chaps?

I have a wise friend, a priest, who counsels me to be charitable in all things ... and Lord knows I try. I try. It really is best to bite one's tongue if it means people's opinions can be heard and understanding can follow.

My wise friend has a detached view of the world and, of people's bickering and hectoring, he observes: Why do they fight so viciously? Because there is so little to gain...

"Why do they fight so viciously? Because there is so little to gain... "

A remark usually (not universally) credited to Kissinger: "University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small."

RHE

They say Kissinger was rather scrappy in his youth.

Perhaps, since the competitions are about demonstrating a sense of humor, the participants all have one. I think it helps in terms of taking things in stride.

Susan

My "Civility" thread on D&A should be read solely as thanks for those who participate there. I am sorry that I gave any indication that TDE (The Deep End) is the only place where blowups have occurred. I have been here long enough to see that they can occur anywhere. I deplore them as retrograde to the intent of this board, and I advocate good manners as a guiding rule in all posts.

And we all know what Samuel Johnson said...