If you can't stand the heat...

get out of the kitchen. Duh!

Yesterday I took the time to read through comments over at Jeremy Vaeni's Culture of Contact. It was the post about the Atlantic City UFO Conference and the comments were hilarious! Mostly it is the interaction between Alfred Lehmberg and some guy called Will. Will gets Al a little riled by saying mean things about Lynne Kitei and since she isn't there to defend herself Al does. Then for dozens of posts Will continues to engage and anger Lehmberg, obviously knowing full well that he is not going to respond in a kind manner. Finally after these dozens of posts he wants Jeremy to ban Lehmberg from commenting or he is leaving. Now as far as I could tell by the posts there were two people playing and they were both lobbing insults. IMO, Jeremy did the exact right thing by telling him he would not ban Lehmberg.

Let me give out a basic internet posting rule --
If someone writes what you consider to be mean things about you there are only a couple of options, be prepared to fight until the bitter end or just let it go.

Lehmberg knows this rule and I assure you that he is always prepared to go until the bitter end. Say what you want, but you would never find him asking for someone to be banned from a free commenting forum, he can handle things himself and in his own way.

Unless it is a point you consider important enough to be worth the time and energy, I suggest just letting it go. I normally let things go and try to save my energy for important topics when they come along. Yes, certain people do sometimes goad me into arguments on silly points, it happens to everyone. Still, silly arguments are fun from time to time and they sharpen you defenses for the big ones. :-) That said, I limit my arguing by limiting the message boards and blog commenting I participate in. Anytime you give an opinion you will normally find someone who will disagree with it, often in a mean way and you must be prepared to deal with that. It isn't just ufology either, it is the entire internet with politics being the worst, but really any topic that people have differing opinions on is the same.

Asking for someone to be banned after you have engaged them for dozens of posts is sniveling. Don't want to deal with them anymore? Ignore them or leave the board. Telling a moderator who you want banned on their forum is in very bad taste, especially if you have encouraged the conversation all the way along.

Just so it is known (and I may add a banner in the sidebar), this is a no sniveling zone. Everyone here is free to post what they want (except spam). If YOU choose to say something mean about someone, Lynne Kitei or anyone else (I don't care how ridiculous you think they are) you have to be prepared to suffer the consequences. And if YOU engage in an argumentative conversation with Lehmberg or anyone else -- that was your decision, not mine, so don't you dare try to blame me for not banning someone if it becomes too much for you. YOU are responsible for what YOU choose to say and any ire you attract from it, just like in real life.

(Side note to Al -- the term Cracker Man is priceless! It think it was Ritzmann you called that, but I plan on using it in the future (not necessarily on Ritzmann) so don't TM it or anything. Right up there with Clown Shoe.)