[California Patriot]

Pings aren't necessary. When you log on, you have the option of going to new messages.

[airborne]

It isn't required to ping someone you're talking about.

It is, however, a long time courtesy here on FreeRepublic to ping the person you are talking about, to give that person the opportunity to respond to your comment.

Especially if it's an attack on that person, as yours was on me.

It's up to the individual poster to be courteous or not.