Re: The nature of the beast

From: David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>

Date: Fri, 19 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Carol Mulholland <Carol@flagship-uk.demon.co.uk> writes:
> I'm sure you can, David, though I'd root for a higher persuasion factor
> on this forum myself.

It seems to me that the essence of a public forum is that one's comments
are directed to a whole public audience, not to a single private
individual.  I think a debate is a good analogy.  The purpose of a
debate isn't to persuade the person(s) you are debating; it's to present
your views to the audience.  You don't expect to change the views of the
person who is trying to persuade them of the opposite.  Debates
generally focus on the differences between two points of view, because
it's not interesting to debate points on which the debaters feel the
same way.

Of course, some people might not like debates, and may prefer a less
adversarial discussion aimed at finding shared points of agreement.

> But one diplomatic technique that only the postal games can offer (I
> think - and I'm not talking about stuff that the rules permit, of
> course) is forgery?

I'm not sure what you mean here.  Of course it's not hard to forge email
apparently from someone else (particularly if the person whom you are
sending to is not a sophisticated computer user---but it's often
possible even if the person is).  Generally easier than forging postal
mail where one might have to reproduce handwriting, etc.  And many games
provide public messaging facilities which are inherently unsigned and
thus subject to "forgery" (i.e., impersonation of another player); lots
of Diplomacy games are run this way, for example.

I'm also not sure whether you are implying that this is good or bad.

David desJardins

References

Re: The nature of the beast
htp@dove.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
Andrei Jirnyi <jonn@i-connect.ru>
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
htp@dove.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Fri, 19 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Fri, 19 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
Carol Mulholland <Carol@flagship-uk.demon.co.uk>
Fri, 19 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
The nature of the beast
htp@dove.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
Andrei Jirnyi <jonn@i-connect.ru>
Wed, 17 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
Carol Mulholland <Carol@flagship-uk.demon.co.uk>
Fri, 19 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
htp@dove.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Fri, 19 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

Re: The nature of the beast
htp@dove.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
Andrei Jirnyi <jonn@i-connect.ru>
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
htp@dove.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Fri, 19 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Fri, 19 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
Carol Mulholland <Carol@flagship-uk.demon.co.uk>
Fri, 19 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
The nature of the beast
htp@dove.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
Andrei Jirnyi <jonn@i-connect.ru>
Wed, 17 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
Carol Mulholland <Carol@flagship-uk.demon.co.uk>
Fri, 19 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
htp@dove.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Fri, 19 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000