h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've been following the current Hoovooloo saga up for several hours over the last three or four days and all the evidence I've found says that, rude as he is, he is in the right here. You accuse him of lying which is not the appropriate accusation. Take it back and start again; or preferably just take it back.

Spook's swagger in the "Unnatural Sex Practice" PR thread was in my view wrongheaded, and he has taken that back. It also appears wrong to me that the italics seem to have backed Spook up then, rather than rap his knuckles immediately. I also share Hoovooloo's distaste for sloppy expression. But all that is on a different level to an accusation of lying.

Do it. We will all thank you. ("We" being at least half the members of the Marlborough Road Institute of Amateur Theology.)

Thank you for your concern, but i do not like people ordering me around when it is none of their business. I will deal with this in my own way, thank you.

Tango

"Take it back" -- that's not an order. "Do it. We will thank you." That's not an order. They can't be orders because we are on equal footing. Spook gave an order to Hoovooloo as scout to contributor.

You don't have to do a Spook. Come on.

>"You don't have to do a Spook"

and WHAT exactly is a 'Spook'?

Those were orders. If you want me to get a dictionary and quote it then i will, but i've had enough of definitions to be honest.

Had you said "please" or "i would like it if you..." then it would have been better, is it was, you were ordering me. We *are* on equal footing, that's why i don't like you ordering me around.

Tango

This is excessive. In my humble opinion.

Tango- I'd interpret them as "commands" rather than "orders"- Recumbentman has apoint that orders come from someone granted an official status.

Eg- If I were to say, for example, "shut up, tango" (merely an example you understand)- I wouldn't be ordering you to shut up as I do not have any authority. It could be seen in context as a command, a request or an exasperated response. I rather think Recumbentman's suggestion would fall into one of those three categories.

"Vote Liberal Democrat. We'll all thank you"- Would that be an order, in your book?

Thanks Egon, but I would say advice not command.

What I find excessive is the behaviour of all three antagonists, Spook, Hoovooloo and Tango. They're all pushing at the boundaries, and there's nothing wrong with doing that except that a standoff has been reached that I would rather see moved on.

Judging from an outsider's viewpoint, reading up all I could find of the background, it is my opinion that Hoovooloo has in this case got the right on his side, and nothing is to be gained by Tango sticking to his guns.

That's the last I mean to say on it.

>"Judging from an outsider's viewpoint, reading up all I could find of the background, it is my opinion that Hoovooloo has in this case got the right on his side, and nothing is to be gained by Tango sticking to his guns."

you ain't read much background then.

spook

Hmm I have to agree with Spook, Recumbentman.

F80756?thread=164844&latest=1#p3158122 being an excellent case in point.

What was that about a leopard changing its spots?

Can we not get into another arguement about semantics please? I'm doing my best to stop hvl annoying anyone else, but i draw the line at apologising for something i didn't do. I have enough threads to follow about this arguement as it is, and i would like it if you could leave me alone.

Tango

Razzy - qualitative difference: the link you provide points to an instance of my lying about MYSELF. If I want to lie about myself, that's surely my own business.

Tango accused me, without foundation, of lying about someone else. That is a different matter entirely, and something I had not done, hence the request for an apology.

However, we do seem to be overwhelming the poor likkle fink wiv too many complicated postings (see previous posting).

I myself have today had an email from the editors pointing out that Tango is merely a child and therefore not responsible for his own actions, and, I quote: "appealing to you as the adult in this
situation" to make allowances for that fact.

Well, I say that if Tango is big enough to post here, then he should be responsible for his conduct here. Anything else would be teaching that one is free to say and do anything one feels like without consequences - not a lesson a child such as Tango should be taught by responsible adults, I think.

I'll accept an apology and retraction from one of his parents, if that is what is necessary...

H.

"you ain't read much background then."

Damn right. Just read another 60-odd posts. Will I get to the bottom of this? Doubt it. Do I care? Less and less.

And yet it's strangely fascinating. Picking at the undoable thing in the house rules, the unstateable sentence in the language. The curse of Bluebeard -- the curse of philosophy -- the sin of Adam: curiosity.

I have been forced by the h2g2 Editors, on pain of having my account suspended, to withdraw my request for an apology from Tango.

For further details, please see my personal space.

I made a mistake valuing Tango's opinion, and treating him as an adult. If I had considered him a child, I would have ignored his insults or merely made fun of him. I did not, and that was a grave error on my part. It is not a mistake I shall repeat.

I am unsubscribing from this thread now, and I would request that all others subscribed to it do the same, as the matter is has now been forcibly closed.

H.