What makes you think you wouldn't be missed? I for one have always
enjoyed reading you and I worried with you when Sandy was having kidney
problems.

Bob's leaving is the group's loss. He is a good person. I don't know
him IRL, but a long time ago I posted about some trouble and he
e-mailed me with a very kind, generous offer. He didn't even know me.
But I suspect that's very indicative of the kind of person he is.  I
understand his disgust, and yours.
Everybody contributes in their own way and makes a group what it is. I
would miss your posts.

Sherry

I'll admit I've been thinking of leaving lately, too, but apparently I'm
too stubborn. Leaving would mean that the nastiness would win. So I had
a reverse reaction and started posting a lot about cats and pics and
stuff. I for one would miss you, Jeanne. I'd been wondering lately where
*both* our Jeannes are. Please don't leave. Too many good people have
left already. That's why the nastiness is winning.

Bob will be missed, and if you had decided to leave you would be missed
as well. Sooner or later (please, let it be sooner!) cooler heads WILL
prevail. Thanks for sticking with us.

Dan

Curiously perhaps, but I haven't seen any of that.  Or perhaps it's
just that I know how to read newsgroups so as to see the good stuff
and miss the bad, though sometimes I do feel left out for not even
knowing about the flame wars.

usenet is a rational anarchy: there is no central authority to punish
offensive users - that is up to the users themselves, individually and
(better) collectively.  It is possible sometimes to drive offensive
users away from a group.  One technique that has worked is to put a
notice in your replies to some question that foo is likely to reply
but should be ignored as a troll or flamer.  Of course, foo then
starts posting under another name, but it's generally easy enough to
recognize the style (in one case, not only was the style recognizable,
but the offender always posted using the same obsolete software from
the same ISP in a small country - he still does, but not in *that*
group).

Flamers get their kicks by riling good people up to the point where
they loose control and resort to flaming themselves.  Unless you are
expert at toying with flamers, they are best ignored - *do not reply
to flamers*.  People who are targets of flamers quickly learn who they
are, as do other regular readers of deep threads.

For most readers, a good rule to follow is that everything of value in
a thread is probably contained in the top four levels: original
question, response to question, request for clarification, and
clarification - if the original posting isn't a question, that leaves
only three levels.  Multiple levels of messages exchanged between two
or three people (with a few others jumping in to defend the one being
flamed) are symptoms of a flame war and are best ignored.

A good news reader program can help by allowing you to mark threads to
ignore and by automatically removing (or marking read) everything from
specific users. The most useful feature is good, and configurable,
message threading - without threading, it is impossible to recognize
flame wars by their characteristic structure.  Microsoft does not
offer a news reader, and the news reader features in some of its other
applications are at best rude.  Google is not a news reader
application.  I have yet to find a decent news reader attached to any
web browser - there are several very good ones available for free
(Free Agent appears to be the most commonly used free one, though the
commercial version (Agent) is better).

It is also often said that usenet users need to wear asbestos
underwear when going on-line - that means that a thick skin - immune
to insults and offenses - is a Good Thing.

Jeanne, I for one would miss you.  I hope you will reconsider and
stay.  It has been rare that major bickering has gone on here (only a
few times I recall in 6? 7? years).  It happens sometimes.  But it
isn't the tone and temper of the group as a whole.

Please stay and post some funny cat stories :-)

Ginger-lyn

Home Pages:
 http://www.spiritrealm.com/summer/
 http://www.angelfire.com/folk/glsummer (homepage & cats)
 http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~summer/index.htm (genealogy)
 http://www.movieanimals.bravehost.com/ (The Violence Against
                        Animals in Movies Website)

Please don't leave Jeanne or Bob.  It's probably my fault for asking for so
much support that this has all kicked off and what I said about Jill's
partner's dog.  This has been a bad week or two.

Tweed

Please don't leave.  If you do, the net monsters will win.  I've been
lurking more than anything lately, partly because of the problems with Rob,
and partly because I felt that what I wanted to say would not contribute to
the group.

After thinking about it, I decided to go back to the original format for the
group, posting stories about the cats.  It is what I recommend most of us
do.  Of course, if you need love and purrs, please post for them.  I won't
be replying to those requests (unless it is SO major I can't help myself)
but I will be thinking of you all and asking the owners to add to the purr
wheel spinning around.

Pam S. saddened by the possible loss of more of my favorite family members

There may be bickering and some really insensitive posts, but I think
that crap is far outweighed by the awesome coming together of this
group for Harri Roadcat and others.  You gotta take the good with the
bad, I'm afraid.
And you're wrong.  You *would* be missed.
--
Britta
"There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast." -- Unknown
Check out pictures of Vino at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album