I can't believe I missed your post last night! Oldtimers setting it. I'd say it was the perception of a newbie troll attacking one of our oldtimers. It was obvious to me that Jehngis had been around FR for a long time in some capacity, so the newbie troll tag wasn't operable. My observation was and is the item in contention neither added to nor detracted from the gist of the article, it only added color. And in that sense, though it appears he was right, Jehngis was nitpicking an insignificant point in a fashion unbecoming to a perceived newbie. A well placed "whatever" somewhere in the exchange might have taken the food away from the combatants; I dunno.
Even though it seems he did a perfunctory search on the item in question, CBB might be well advised to fact check even his unrelated points in the future because there will always be a "scholar" around to pick even the best articles apart.
I do not suppose this would be a good time to reiterate my observation of the need for a closer study of Robert's Rules of Order or some similar system of organized debate?
What?! Bring order to a food fight?! Puleeze! Besides a, er, debate is no fun unless you get a little on you ;^)
FGS
I'm hesitant to respond and drag this out any longer. But I actually agree with your assessment. I realize my points were minor--and even started to preface them as "nit-picking." That's one reason why I put in so many "LOLS."
If you look back I just posted two posts correcting the facts, and I thought it would end there. Or at most, BB would post something to the effect of: "oops, you're right, I got it misinfo from a sloppy site." Instead he called me names and tried to "argue from authority" based upon his registration date here. And then others decided to pile on.
I have to say that your latest post and Copernicus' last post have restored my faith a little. I agree with Copernicus that there should be some minimal rules of debate--or at least civility in the back of posters minds. Otherwise too many good people will be driven away for no real purpose. And this has happened quite a lot, as you probably known.
Understood. But the ten yard penalty (or timeout!) in this case must go to Billybob. Jehngis was neither intemperate nor incorrect in his orginal comments. Billybob solicited comment and he received it. His response (mope) was ungraceful to say the least.
As Billbears famously once observed "Reaganism this ain't!"
I would add- with conservative behaviour like this who needs liberals or DemocRATS?
While there is no standard (of which I am aware) for "conduct unbecoming a Freeper" I would like to believe a high profile senior Freeper like the more or less Congressman would have the grace to publicly apologize to Jehngis Khan and possibly even admonish some of his erstwhile allies to learn some proper etiquette and moderate their conduct when acting on his behalf.
As a Fipper (Frequently Ignored Poster) I am sure this post will hit the roundfile almost as quickly as I type it.
Best regards,