ANST - Courtesy in conversation and a farewell

[Jerry Dreifuerst]

Greetings Ansteorra,
Othar here.

It has been mostly enjoyable until now, but my desire to continue 
subscribing to this list has passed.  Recently the number of replies 
including the entire previous message have grown tiresome.  I'm sure the 
veteran list readers are very used to this growing trend of discourtesy and 
my ever-so-often attempt to curtail it.  But before I run out of civility 
for the posters who generate these time and space wasting posts, I am 
removing myself from the situation.

However, before I sign off, one last try.

Imagine a large room with lots of conversations going on at the same time.  
You catch a portion of a conversation and join the group that is talking.  
But instead of just adding your point of view and letting the conversation 
flow, you repeat everything the previous speakers have said after your 
comments.  Whatever thoughtful insight you may have added to the 
conversation has been dulled and diluted by the other listeners task of 
re-hearing the entire thread of conversation.

Imagine a better situation.  The same as above, except instead of having to 
repeat everything that has been said, you politely ask aside from the main 
conversation for someone to fill you in on what's been covered so far.  When 
you are ready to add to the conversation, you selectively cull out 
individual points from the other speakers comments and judiciously sprinkle 
them into your rebuttals.  Others in the conversation are impressed by your 
courtesy and add greater weight to the words you have spoken.  People look 
forward to listening to you speak again because they know you value their 
time as demonstrated by your courtesy in conversation.

We can do this on Ansteorra at Ansteorra.org.  We can take the steps necessary 
to stop a small discourtesy on the Internet.

Yes, yes, I know many of you are at work and are too busy during the day to 
take the time to edit your messages.  But if you don't have the time to edit 
your replies, then I (multiplied by hundreds of readers) am forced to.  In 
the business world everyone wants to include the message trail so they won't 
be blamed if someone down the line gets the wrong idea.  However we are not 
in the realm of business, we're in the realm of idealistic historical 
recreation.  Let's leave the harsh legalistic 20th Century habits in our 
offices and show our fellow re-enactors a better way to communicate.

I'm sure there are those of you out there who agree with my ideas, if not 
necessarily my way of saying them.  I'm sure there are many who disagree as 
demonstrated by the many unedited response postings appearing these days.  
Either way, to give me feedback on this thread, you will need to send them 
to me by some other means than this list.  Or even better speak to me in 
person at an event.

To the many friends I have made through this list, thank you.

I remain in service to the Society as,
Othar Morganson
Stargate, Ansteorra
morganson at hotmail.com

        or

Jerry Dreifuerst
Houston, Texas
jerryd at neosoft.com


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