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Subject:Re: Did they really mean what it says? From:"Chuck Martin" <cm -at- writeforyou -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 17 Nov 2003 11:33:42 -0800
"Bonnie Granat" <bgranat -at- granatedit -dot- com> wrote in message news:220194 -at- techwr-l -dot- -dot- -dot-
>
> From: <dmbrown -at- brown-inc -dot- com>
> > The ad would be funny if it were "Protect Your Stomach Lining from Tums"
> > or "Protect Your Retirement Fund from Acme Bank" or any of a jillion
> > other unintentionally ambiguous possibilities.
> >
> > Lighten up. I haven't seen anything in this thread that seemed like a
> > personal attack.
> >
>
> I have. Being called "humorless" is a vicious attack on my personal (and
> professional) integrity, David. ; ) Now, let's all have a great week. (I
suspect
> that now I know why the posting of "cute errors" is generally discouraged
on
> most mailing lists.)
>
Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. An observation of
one's behavior is neither "vicious" nor an "attack." It also has nothing
whatsoever to do with one's integrity.
Being an apologist for or defending a corporation that has been found to
exhibit monolpolistic practices, that preaches security while releasing
vulnerable software, and that has driven numerous companies out of business
by buying competitors rather than developing laternatives casts a far, far
larger shadow on one's integrity.
(And this is a company where I've worked before and would work
again--pushimg, always pushing, to make things better.)
Plain fact is, this is funny. It's not that anyone takes joy in the
misfortunes of others, but that the placement of phrases together has
unintended consequences. That sort of humor is found regularly one the web
and in other places and recognizing it is by no means an attack on its
sources. To suggest that it is, or that laughing at the humor of the
situation is somehow inappropriate and offensive, says far more about the
one who woudl make such a claim.
Pointing out such things also provides us with regular reminders that it is
important to be diligent, in our writing and in our editing. But as diligent
as we are, as good as we are, we are still human, and the inability or
unwillingness to laugh at our foibles speaks volumes as well.
Meanwhile, what most people probably didn't notice was that there's also a
coding problem. The pop-up code has a JavaScript error. The failure is not
only in the editorial review, but in the coding review. (I wonder how many
people, either because they are working on Web applications or sites or are
simply technically astute enough, configure their browsers to catch such
things.)
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