SC - Dignity and the Niemann-Marcus Cookie

[Kornelis Sietsma]

On Thu, 21 Jan 1999 23:39:01 -0500, Philip & Susan Troy wrote:

>Hullo, the list!
>
>Speaking purely as a concerned "civilian" list member, I'll get right to
>the point (possibly a first for me...):
>
>This thread is the second or third time in perhaps two weeks that
>tempers on this list have flared a bit, not because there was a simple
>disagreement or expression of impatience, but because that expression of
>mild impatience was voiced so many times by so many different people.
>
>Yeah, you can post something someone doesn't especially agree with or
>like. It happens, but please, please, please, read everything in your
>mailbox on a given subject before responding off the cuff.
<snip>

I think part of the problem here is the nature of e-mail lists; messages
travel across the net in strange and mysterious ways, and often several
people will post replies to a post at the same time - all thinking that
they were the only person responding.  Unfortunately, even if the replies
are all courteous and helpful, the original poster will feel somewhat
put-upon.  But every poster thought that they were the only person
replying...

My apologies to Brenna if the replies by myself (and others) were blown
somewhat out of proportion by their volume.  No offense was intended, all I
wanted was to clarify the situation, and provide enough information so that
Brenna and others could check other similar stories before sending them on.

However, may I say that I am *not* happy to agree with the attitude "it was
an amusing story and obviously fictional, so why complain?"  The original
post clearly states "This is not a joke --- this is a true story."  Many
many people across the world have believed that this is true.

If no-one corrects such things, then they spread to other lists as other
readers assume that they are true and re-forward them.  The messages become
a self-replicating virus.  The cookie message is fairly mild - all it does
is defame N-M somewhat, and spread an (apparently) fairly tasty cookie
recipe around the world.  Other hoaxes are much worse - I've seen an office
grind to a halt as a manager tried to make all the users check for the
"good times" virus in all their mail...

Now I just hope 500 other people haven't posted something similar to this
while mine makes it's way across the world :)

- -Korny
- -- 
William Bekwith MKA Kornelis Sietsma | http://zikzak.net/~korny
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