NK - Mindless banter (was Yes Berengaria, I can document Santa Klaus!)

[I. Marc Carlson]

<"Brannon L. Bain" <bbain at galstar.com>>
>Well now, I never said there was anything wrong with mindless banter.  This 
>conversation here could, for example, be considered mindless banter.  But I 
>don't particularly think it is so much mindless banter.  Not enough so as 
>it would bother me anyway.

That's entirely true.  Of course, and since one person's mindless banter is
another person's being social and friendly, it's a little difficult to know
what to do.  For example, I'd guess fully 70-80% of the mail I get every day
falls into (to me) the "mindless frufru" category (since it's not just banter).
Most of it, unless it comes from people I actively like and care about, is 
quickly deleted.  No muss, no fuss, no nasty wax buildup.

I suppose my confusion is that when being faced with something you don't like,
why (with all due respect to Anna) would tell people to "shut up" rather than 
just delete it.  Personally, if I don't like the topics being discussed, I
find that, for me, changing the subject to something I *do* want to talk about
works better than being frustrated about it.  This should not be construed,
BTW, as my saying that she was *wrong* to have said anything.  Heck, I've been
told to shut up by people who REALLY meant it... :)

Marc/Diarmaid