Best wishes for 2006, and a periodic courtesy reminder

As a well-known AFW resident busybody, I've periodically taken it upon myself to post courtesy reminders. I'll take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy & TCA-free 2006, and once again post a reminder.

1) This is Usenet , a tool for discussion. Don't expect to post something w/o possibility of someone refuting it.

2) Please keep in mind that many of the contributors to alt.food.wine do not speak English as their first language. Also even for some of us who do, it's easy to mistake the tone of written communication. If there's 2 ways to take a post, be easy on yourself and decide the least offensive perception is the correct one. :)

3) Let's try to avoid personal comments. If you don't like someone, filter their posts. The details of how to do that vary according to newsreader software, but tutorials exist on the Web for employing filters in all the popular newsreaders.

4) If you realize someone's intent is to provoke and annoy (in other words, a troll) , please just ignore. Every time you argue with them, or invoke their name, you're stroking their (IMHO somewhat warped) ego.

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If you feel compelled to respond,I can't stop you. But please don't quote trolls , it puts their words in front of those who have kill-filed them

5)New Folks: you're here to learn, right? So if someone who has been on

AFW for years and serious about wine for 30+ corrects you, learn from it, don't get your feelings hurt.

6) Old folks : remember you were new (to wine and AFW) at some point, too. Correct if need be, but let's try to do so graciously.

7) Personally, I find it less than helpful to make generalizations about people based on where they live, what they do outside wine, etc. People who invoke offensive off-topic subjects on a regular basis deserve to be killfiled, period. There are of course fora for your political opinons, racism, xenophobia, sexism, etc., this just isn't one of them.

8) No one is superior (In My Humble Opinion) based on either the simplicity or elegance of what they eat or drink. Isn't this group big enough for someone to have Shiraz with BBQed chicken and another to have rack of lamb with a fine Pauillac? Does it somehow offend you to read about a meal you wouldn't eat yourself? If someone says that they will not drink certain types of wines, don't waste your time worrying about their opinions of those wines, listen to those that do.

9)Newbies: we welcome your participation . But as in ANY social situation, whether on or off line, it is wisest not to attack a respected member of a community while a newbie, it really won't win you any points. It is a time-honored tradition that one should lurk for a while before posting to get a feel re tone of a group.

So there. As usual, I'm sure I've offended a couple of old-timers and a

couple of newbies, but hope the rest of you can take these remarks to heart. I don't claim to be immune to digression ;all I'm asking is that

we try to keep these guidelines in mind.

best wishes for 2006, Dale

Reply to
DaleW
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Hey Dale, why do you do this courtesy reminder everytime one of us posts some anti something political commentary :-)

Reply to
Richard Neidich

Nothing that should be offensive that I can see in any of that, Dale. It's all excellent advice.

Same to you and Betsy, and everyone else here.

Reply to
Ken Blake

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