I was part of a movement of "dinosaur moms" when I lived in Maryland (Astrodon Johnstoni is the Maryland state dinosaur.) Which is nothing more than this -- dinosaur moms delight in the half-feral nature of the beasties they parent, even as they whisper Shakespeare and Kierkegaard in their ears at night.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Netiquette question

So, here's a question.

Say you have a friend. Not a friend, exactly. More like a probationary friend. Friend enough to have your e-mail address. And one of the first things PF does with your e-mail address is forward something to you and twenty other of her closest friends. In this particular case it was this maudlin poem.

Well, I have a pretty high tolerance for forwards of this sort, but this particular one bugged me. Perhaps it was the presumption on our very new acquaintance, or the bathos of the text, or the fraud of making people believe that signing a chain petition is accomplishing something.

I hit "reply all", linked to the hoax-slayer site, and explained that if anybody wanted to help MADD in real life, they could click on its actual action center. Was that overkill?

2 comments:

Dinosaur Mom said...

You have done well. I hope it doesn't turn out to be a friendship-killer but on this kind of thing I'd rather be right than nice. Glurge must be punished.

Astrodon Johnstoni said...

OMG, I didn't know there was a name for it.