Good advice.  Here's another technique I use.  If you have the impulse to reply when you're upset,
follow these steps:

1.  Hit "reply"
2.  Immediately go to the "To" line and delete the COA address (everything on the line)
3.  Type in the email address of the sender of the email that upset you
4.  Type out your reply
5.  Then do one of two things (after you reread it and correct all the spelling errors made because
you were so upset)
    a.  Save it as a draft, open it the next day, reread it once more, then send it if you still
wish.
    b.  Send it right away

What do y'all think?  Is it easier to give advice or to take advice?  I'm wearing my armor, and I
promise to follow 5.a  on this  one.
-
Marlo
Merritt Island, Florida
[log in to unmask]


Amy Lyn Edwards wrote:

> Conch-l is an UN-moderated list.  What does this mean?  It means that what
> you post to the list is redistributed to everyone on the list without
> anyone checking it for spelling, punctuation or netiquette (see:
> http://www.fau.edu/netiquette/net/index.html).
>
> This WILL NOT change because I DO NOT intend to play mother to all 400 plus
> people on this list.
>
> Everyone has an occasional bad day and multi-year subscribers will often
> vent on the list a bit more than new subscribers who are more concerned
> with what other people may think of them.  New subscribers will ask
> questions that have already been discussed to death.  We also all have
> replied when we didn't mean to (if you haven't you will - trust me).
>
> If I have to I can and will remove a subscriber from the list.  I don't
> think this is the best option since I do know so many of you and CAN'T
> BELIEVE you all are not capable of conversing in a polite productive manner
> about molluscs.  From my point of view molluscs are the most diverse,
> complex, amazing group of animals on the planet.  The people I have met who
> work with molluscs and collect shells are just as interesting as the
> molluscs they collect.  There are billions of questions, wonderful stories
> and just plain interesting stuff to talk about so why waste time on other
> things.
>
> Here is a suggestion that I hope you will all consider:
>
> If you are upset, angry or just in a bad mood - DON'T REPLY RIGHT AWAY!
>
> Erase the email address in the 'To:' line so that YOU CAN'T REPLY RIGHT AWAY.
>
> Compose your response and then WAIT.
>
> RE-READ your response SEVERAL times during the next TWENTY FOUR HOURS.
> Spend a little time venting at your computer instead of the list.  It will
> make you feel better.
>
> If at the end of that time you still want to respond - CONSIDER CAREFULLY
> should your response be sent to the WHOLE list of 400 people in over 35
> different countries AND become part of an archive on a web site that anyone
> anywhere at any time can read OR should you send it directly to the person
> who wrote the email that got you upset?
>
> Maybe they didn't mean what you thought they meant.  Maybe they have a
> unique sense of humor.  Maybe they don't have as good a grasp of the
> English language as you do.  Why don't you send them a personal email
> politely explaining that their email hurt your feelings and why.  Most
> people if given a chance are not as bad as their email can make them seem.
>
> Amy, list owner
>
> Amy Edwards, Program Coordinator ------ [log in to unmask]
>
> Georgia Museum of Natural History    --------    phone (706) 542-4137
> University of Georgia            --------            FAX 706-542-3920
> Athens, GA 30602-1882       --------       http://museum.nhm.uga.edu/
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> "A man's mind, stretched by new ideas, can never go back to its original
> dimensions."             Oliver Wendell Holmes



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