Dear Proxy,

It's a shame that in giving my quotes on this
thread - you
did not give the ones of
yours that prompted my reaction. They were to
say the least, beyond reprehensible - and you
deserved the comments that you provoked after
several attempts on my part requesting that you
stop trying to derail the thread, which you
ignored.

However, as I stated to you many times in the past,
any criticism born of ignorance, or hatred is not
only ineffectual and a complete waste of time, it is
harmful and elicits equally pointless and damaging
responses

Dear Squeers,

I'll definitely look for Beerbohm's "A Clergyman". I've got Boswell's "Life of Johnson" but I haven't read it properly, although I've read a lot about his life. I will have to have a serious read as I've heard many people describe it as among their favourites.

Yes, I'd still like to start a thread about alienation in modern society - will give it some thought....

Dear Squeers,

I found "A Clergyman" - quite a poignant read. It captures the awe inspired by Johnson's gatherings and the power of his personality.

Don't know if you'd be interested, but I came across the sensational trial of the man who killed James Boswell's son (Sir Alexander Boswell) in a duel. His name was James Stuart of Dunearn. My great great great grandfather was his solicitor and was instrumental in Stuart learning the identity of Sir Alexander who had provoked and slandered him in a Glasgow newspaper. This led to the challenge of a duel in 1822.
My ancestor's name was William Spalding S.S.C. and he was a witness at the trial. If you google The Trial of James Stuart, you'll find it - it's quite a fascinating read.

Anyone read the latest Bryce Courtney?

I recommend the last few posts for deletion. They are clearly off topic.

In fact I also find these kind of grandiose delusions quite offensive to any right thinking posters.

Absolutely right, Houellie.
(What was I thinking?)
Point your offended sensibilities in the direction of the red cross (bottom left).

Harking back to GrahamY's Technical Support thread that announced the increase in posting limits on 24 February 2010, which viewers can see here: http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=3478#82419 , an idea, in the light of the recent Great Deletion on the 'Racist you all to the bottom' (or whatever it was called) thread, has just popped into my head.



Poster Self-actuated Automated Moderation!



Given that "short, nasty, and brutish" posts are more often than not the sort that feature in abusive posting, I have a sense that some software could be designed such that if any poster fails to use up more than some given (tweakable?) proportion of the 350-words-per-post limit, then their remaining posting entitlement gets automatically curtailed to some (tweakable?) extent. Short, (likely abusive) posts would thus tend to reduce ongoing participation by that poster in any phlaigme that might be otherwise about to continue or spread.

The very necessity of having to compose a longer post in order to preserve one's maximum ongoing posting potential may well be enough of itself to calm the enraged beast within, to salve the offended dignity, to elicit a more moderate(d!) response.

A technological tour-de-force and auto-de-fe all in the one!



The building-in of a capacity to move off-topic posts to an area of the Forum reserved for thread-hijackers, an area perhaps analogous to the stocks of yesteryear, may also act as a deterrent to degradation of the quality of discussion on the Forum.