Re: Nathan Mates

[casa@unm.edu (Jim Pittman)]

Re:

> Subject: Nathan Mates       14 May 1996 07:55:23 +0200
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> You know I feal that this way of posting loses something.
> This take less guts.

You've got that part right.
 
> I am writing a formal abuse complaint about Nathan Mates...

[ totally surreal blathering snipped ]

I have been reading comp.sys.apple2 and related newsgroups for several
years and in my opinion Nathan's posts are usually models of what I
thought the Internet was all about: he promptly answers technical
questions and points people to sources of more or better information.
He writes clearly and succinctly and his answers are usually cogent --
more than can be said about at least some of our posters.

It's true he often suggests helpful behavior -- such as posting lines
at 70 columns instead of 80 as an aid in quoting. Maybe when he tells
people this, they are offended. It's true he has sometimes lapsed into
sarcasm mode after someone repeatedly made stupid or thoughtless posts.
Usually I have thought the level of thoughtlessness or stupidity in
such posts warranted the level of sarcasm, but YMMV.

I'll take Nathan's behavior on the net in preference to that of any of
quite a few people I could name, thank you. I appreciate the many people
who post useful information about the Apple II computer, much of it un-
available anywhere else. Thanks, Nathan.

- Jim Pittman - University of New Mexico - casa@unm.edu