[At-Large] Respectful Online Communication and Behavior

[Bret Fausett]

This thread reminded me of a blog post Christopher Locke wrote a few  
weeks ago:

http://www.rageboy.com/2009/04/cluetrainplus10-did-i-fall-asleep-this.html

His point is that honest speech is more important than civility.  
Ideally you'd have both, but if one has to go, I would ditch civility  
in favor of honesty. I say this as someone who always has had trouble  
divining the real meaning behind things like the "GAC Communiques,"  
which bury their points under so many layers of politeness that they  
are indiscernible to all but a handful of insiders trained in the  
Kabuki theater of international politics. I am not disagreeing with  
what Frank Fowlie wrote -- and would strongly agree that bullying and  
intentionally over-heated rhetoric should not be acceptable -- but  
honest speech is acceptable too, even if it is overly blunt or  
seemingly rude by some cultural definitions.

       Bret