[sumo] README: Early FAQ posting (OT)

[Barbara]

Judith Douglas wrote:
> I am a psychiatric nurse at the present time at the most prestigious 
> hospital in the world. 

This made me think.  Johns Hopkins?  UCLA?  Stanford?  Mayo Clinic? Los 
Angeles Children's Hospital?  Hmmm, probably not the latter.

I attended the most prestigious science & engineering university in the 
world, myself.  Yes, that one...

But in response to your post.  I've found that the key word is the word 
"you".  Whenever a poster finds themself writing that word, they should 
usually stop and delete their own message, because it means they are 
probably going to make a personal statement, and that always leads 
toward flame wars.  It is very poor judgment to say "You have no idea 
what you're talking about."  Instead one must say "I completely disagree 
with... [quoting] and am dumbfounded to see such an opinion defended 
here."  See, notice how omitting the word "you" forced the rebuttal to 
become politer, more formal, yet it still can be passionate and 
forceful. I am not always myself perfect at deflecting personal posts, 
but I really do believe in how important it is to maintain ones own 
composure.  No matter what the subject is, in an unmoderated forum there 
will be ignorant, uninformed, and those who want to play "make 
outrageous statements and start a shouting match" just for fun.  Let's 
not make it fun for them by getting personal. Such posters WANT it to 
get personal, that is what they live for.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
Barbara Murasakihana