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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 3 of 3. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Minnie-Haha on August 1, 2005, at 20:58:57
The last time I was blocked, there was a footnote of sorts from Dr. Bob about something I’d written aside from the “blockable” statement.
I’d written, “... the 3-complaint [rule], as proposed by Dr. Bob ... would silence me in my ‘mission’ to simply make this kind of habitual, public behavior, whoever does it, unacceptable.”
Dr. Bob’s comment was, “That's the thing, people can feel they're the target of someone else's mission.”
This reminds me of a past thread where I brought up the subject of punctuation.
For instance, in what I’d written in my above-mentioned post, I used quotation marks in a way that The Chicago Manual of Style calls “scare quotes.” From the manual: “Quotation marks are often used to alert the readers that a term is used in a nonstandard, ironic, or other special sense... they imply ‘This is not my term’ or ‘This is not how the term is usually applied.’”
To put it as clearly as I can, when I used the word “mission” in my blocked post, I meant that I believed that some thought me to be on a mission, and not that I saw my effort as a mission or myself as a zealot.
This is another reason why I believe it is a good practice to not jump to any conclusions, and to ask the writer of any post what they mean if there is any doubt in one’s mind. Some folks are better at grammar than others and it is easy to misinterpret what others write.
Consider the first paragraph of this post. I put quotation marks around the word “blockable” because I’m not even sure it is a real word; I used punctuation to denote slang or “argot” (the specialized vocabulary of a particular group). And just now I put quotation marks around “argot” because it’s a word that might not be familiar to all. And in this paragraph, I’ve put quotation marks around “blockable” and “argot” because I was not referring to those words functionally, but as words themselves.
I am by no means perfect in my use of grammar; especially online where one often writes in a hurry. What I mean is, as both writers and readers here, we need to consider not only words, but also punctuation when pondering the meaning of the written word.
Posted by Dr. Bob on August 3, 2005, at 5:13:23
In reply to On punctuation and meaning, posted by Minnie-Haha on August 1, 2005, at 20:58:57
> I’d written, “... the 3-complaint [rule], as proposed by Dr. Bob ... would silence me in my ‘mission’ to simply make this kind of habitual, public behavior, whoever does it, unacceptable.”
>
> Dr. Bob’s comment was, “That's the thing, people can feel they're the target of someone else's mission.”
>
> To put it as clearly as I can, when I used the word “mission” in my blocked post, I meant that I believed that some thought me to be on a mission, and not that I saw my effort as a mission or myself as a zealot.Thanks for explaining. Sorry if I jumped to a conclusion.
But if some could think you to be on a mission, they could also think themselves to be your target...
Bob
Posted by Minnie-Haha on August 5, 2005, at 13:12:35
In reply to Re: On punctuation and meaning, posted by Dr. Bob on August 3, 2005, at 5:13:23
> > I’d written, “... the 3-complaint [rule], as proposed by Dr. Bob ... would silence me in my ‘mission’ to simply make this kind of habitual, public behavior, whoever does it, unacceptable.”
> >
> > Dr. Bob’s comment was, “That's the thing, people can feel they're the target of someone else's mission.”
> >
> > To put it as clearly as I can, when I used the word “mission” in my blocked post, I meant that I believed that some thought me to be on a mission, and not that I saw my effort as a mission or myself as a zealot.
>
> Thanks for explaining. Sorry if I jumped to a conclusion.Thank you.
> But if some could think you to be on a mission, they could also think themselves to be your target...
>
> BobI know what it’s like to feel like a target. But if others (and I am NOT talking about anyone in particular) embark on “missions” to affect administration here, and if their behavior in said pursuit is judged with tolerance, then those whose intention and behavior is comparable should, IMO, be afforded equal courtesy. My first attempt to discuss civility rules here was a poor one and I was blocked. Since then, having said nothing egregious – in fact having taken great care to express myself fairly – I might have been given the benefit of the doubt, or at least asked to rephrase myself, instead of getting blocked again.
This is the end of the thread.
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