Rudeness with names (was Re: interpreted)

[Aahz]

In article <mailman.1055244679.25761.python-list at python.org>,
=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Gerhard_H=E4ring?=  <gh at ghaering.de> wrote:
>Aahz wrote:
>> Gerhard Häring wrote:
>>>Ifman1 wrote:
>>>
>>>>what do you mean "anonymous coward"???
>>>
>>>Somebody not using their real name on usenet and using a pseudonym like 
>>>"Ifman1" instead. I call these people "anonymous cowards" :-)^
>>>
>>>In some cases it's their intention to use these pseudonyms, in some 
>>>cases they just haven't set up their mail client properly. In any case, 
>>>I give them a nudge this way.
>> 
>> Well, I wasn't paying much attention earlier, but I have to say that I
>> consider this rather rude.  How the heck do you know what someone's
>> "real name" is?  
>
>I can't know. But then there are cases where someone just was careless 
>when configuring his/her mail/news client. That's why I give them a 
>nudge in case they weren't aware of it. If they *are* aware of it, they 
>can ignore it :)
>
>I too feel offended by:
>
>- anonymous posters
>- top-posting
>- broken quoting
>
>In one word: carelessness.
>
>Occasionally I will make originators aware of this. If you can't live 
>with this, feel free to killfile me.

That's fine, and you may recall that I've made comments about top-posting
and broken quoting in the past.  But one needn't be rude and insulting
when doing so, particularly in the first response to any given person --
that's not a "nudge".  A better response would be something like,
"Should I call you 'Ifman1'?"
-- 
Aahz (aahz at pythoncraft.com)           <*>         http://www.pythoncraft.com/

"If you don't know what your program is supposed to do, you'd better not
start writing it."  --Dijkstra