Quotes4study

             THE "FUN WITH USENET" MANIFESTO

Very little happens on Usenet without some sort of response from some other

reader.  Fun With Usenet postings are no exception.  Since there are some who

might question the rationale of some of the excerpts included therein, I have

written up a list of guidelines that sum up the philosophy behind these

postings.

    One.  I never cut out words in the middle of a quote without a VERY

good reason, and I never cut them out without including ellipses.  For

instance, "I am not a goob" might become "I am ... a goob", but that's too

mundane to bother with.  "I'm flame proof" might (and has) become

"I'm ...a... p...oof" but that's REALLY stretching it.

    Two.  If I cut words off the beginning or end of a quote, I don't

put ellipses, but neither do I capitalize something that wasn't capitalized

before the cut. "I don't think that the Church of Ubizmo is a wonderful

place" would turn into "the Church of Ubizmo is a wonderful place".  Imagine

the posting as a tape-recording of the poster's thoughts.  If I can set

up the quote via fast-forwarding and stopping the tape, and without splicing,

I don't put ellipses in.  And by the way, I love using this mechanism for

turning things around.  If you think something stinks, say so - don't say you

don't think it's wonderful.   ...

        -- D. J. McCarthy (dmccart@cadape.UUCP)

Fortune Cookie

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