Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1998 18:57:45 -0500 From: "Eric J. Hansen" Subject: Re: [ILF] my first and last words on Joe P. Laurel wrote: > Therefore, I'm advocating that NO ONE > respond to him. It's clear to me that it is, in fact, HE that needs US- > not vice versa. If we all decide as a unified group to stonewall the > guy- what motivation will he have to remain? Remember, to those who > receive messages from him; it only takes 2 seconds to hit delete. And in > my humble opinion- even that much time is too much to spend on this > waste of space. I agree completely... and here's a short story to demonstrate why: about six months after the first and most-infamous Joe P debacle, Joe emailed me essentially asking for forgiveness and to be allowed to re-join the digest. He was very reasonable, polite and sincere. Well, after conversing with John Shuford about what to do, I decided to just ignore the email and do nothing. Two days later, I received an incredibly scathing email with typical Joe-style Digest bashing (similar to what he just said to Lolita.) He also include a variety of personal insults and evening some very cruel remarks about my wife. This bothered me quite alot at first, but I eventually decided that Joe's own problems are far worse than those which he could invent for any of us. So, it seems that the most effective way to lash out at Joe is also the easiest -- just ignore him. He's a classic narcissist -- so much that he'd probably even have to admit that himself. Since he feels like he _has_ to be heard, our silence to him signifies that we just don't acknowledge his presence... the worst possible fate in any community. Well, that's my two cents anyways... =) -- Eric J. Hansen Worldmachine Technologies Corporation Internet, Intranet and Extranet Development http://www.worldmachine.com tel: (617) 357-4040, fax: (617) 357-4949