Cross-journal flaming
Imagine you're visiting a friend's house some evening, and you're one of several guests there. Your host begins talking about a subject of mutual interest, and you and he are discussing it one-on-one in a casual and friendly manner.
Suddenly, another guest completely unknown to you hears something you've just said to your friend, and immediately, this other guy is right in your face, obviously very upset with what you said, and raising his voice angrily, he starts telling you off and belittling you in front of everyone else there.
How would that make you feel? You'd probably think, who does this guy think he is, barging in and making a scene like this? You were talking with your friend, not this jerk. What kind of a person would come into someone else's house and pick a fight anyway, apparently just for the sake of assaulting a fellow guest with their anything-but-humble opinion?
No one with a shred of manners would do that in a real life social situation. Yet, this sort of thing happens all the time on LiveJournal. You post a comment on someone else's LJ, and another user - usually someone totally unknown to you - flames you for what you said in your comment. I think that's the heighth of rudeness, myself. If I post a comment in reply to one of my friend's posts, that comment is directed to him or her alone, period. I don't give a damn what any other LJ user has to say about it, and AFAIC, they've no business injecting themselves into what was intended to be a one-on-one exchange with my friend.
This practice of cross-journal flaming has happened to me so many times that I've become extremely leery of posting anything but the most innocuous comments in other people's LJs. In fact, I have to say it's the #1 reason why I post so few comments anymore. I'm always afraid some raving pedant is going to take it upon themself to chastise me for what I've said to my friend, for whatever reason, or for no reason at all. So, rather than risk getting flamed by a comment troll, I simply keep most of my thoughts about others' postings to myself.
I'm glad I don't have anyone on my friends list who makes a habit of doing this on my LJ, because I'd give serious consideration to banning them if I did. I want visitors to my LJ to feel free to reply to my posts without fear of being assaulted like this. If someone wants to take me to task for something I've posted in my own LJ, that's fine - that's what the comment process is really for. But please, don't anyone use my LJ as a platform to jump on someone else's back for comments they've posted here. That's just plain rude, and I will not tolerate rude guests in my house.
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Suddenly, another guest completely unknown to you hears something you've just said to your friend, and immediately, this other guy is right in your face, obviously very upset with what you said, and raising his voice angrily, he starts telling you off and belittling you in front of everyone else there.
How would that make you feel? You'd probably think, who does this guy think he is, barging in and making a scene like this? You were talking with your friend, not this jerk. What kind of a person would come into someone else's house and pick a fight anyway, apparently just for the sake of assaulting a fellow guest with their anything-but-humble opinion?
No one with a shred of manners would do that in a real life social situation. Yet, this sort of thing happens all the time on LiveJournal. You post a comment on someone else's LJ, and another user - usually someone totally unknown to you - flames you for what you said in your comment. I think that's the heighth of rudeness, myself. If I post a comment in reply to one of my friend's posts, that comment is directed to him or her alone, period. I don't give a damn what any other LJ user has to say about it, and AFAIC, they've no business injecting themselves into what was intended to be a one-on-one exchange with my friend.
This practice of cross-journal flaming has happened to me so many times that I've become extremely leery of posting anything but the most innocuous comments in other people's LJs. In fact, I have to say it's the #1 reason why I post so few comments anymore. I'm always afraid some raving pedant is going to take it upon themself to chastise me for what I've said to my friend, for whatever reason, or for no reason at all. So, rather than risk getting flamed by a comment troll, I simply keep most of my thoughts about others' postings to myself.
I'm glad I don't have anyone on my friends list who makes a habit of doing this on my LJ, because I'd give serious consideration to banning them if I did. I want visitors to my LJ to feel free to reply to my posts without fear of being assaulted like this. If someone wants to take me to task for something I've posted in my own LJ, that's fine - that's what the comment process is really for. But please, don't anyone use my LJ as a platform to jump on someone else's back for comments they've posted here. That's just plain rude, and I will not tolerate rude guests in my house.
(All comments in response to this post will be kept screened.)