At what point does a substantive flame-fest become a real argument, though? Flame-wars strike me as being one thing and one thing only: a conversation for the benefit of the speaker, not the listener.
I've never had that opinion of LBO-talk, even at its most confrontational. Instead, we are generally infused with missionary zeal and the need to win over one's opponents, not merely crush them under a flood of rhetoric. That's what sets LBO-talk apart from vast majority of listservs.
I admit that I've been snarky a couple of times recently, and there are posts which were not shining examples of comradeship (hmm .. time to selectively edit the archive. He who controls the past, &c, &c). However, LBO-talk is by and large the least flame-prone listserv that I've ever participated in. Quite an achievement, given the personalities and egos on the list.
Now, if you could only dumb it down a bit :).
Cheers,
Marco
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> | The further I get <
> Marco Anglesio | from the things I care about <
> mpa at the-wire.com | The less I care <
> http://www.the-wire.com/~mpa | how much further away I get <
> | --Robert Smith <
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