[Tango-L] tango & trash talking

[WHITE 95 R]

A long time ago we used to have "spirited" discussions on the tango-l... 
They were so "spirited" that the moderators (or censors) became quite active 
in silencing the participants in those discussions. Anyway, I've had the 
opportunity to meet and talk in person with several of the most vociferous 
posters and locuatious contributors. Since I did not know them before hand 
and they did not know me, we met as just regular folks who shared a common 
interest. I found most of these people to be rather shy and not at all as 
belligerent as they appeared in the list. Amazingly enough they did not even 
mention some of these topics that were so passionately dicussed in the 
tango-l.

As it turns out, I think I've made friends with some of them and generally 
had a pleasant time with all of them in person. Sure, some of the most 
erudite sounding people turned out to be just regular, intermediate level 
dancers as far as I could see. So much for learning to dance tango from the 
posts in the tango-l... There is one thing that I do remember well. Although 
some people engage in these "discussions" for fun and they don't mind the 
poking fun or ridiculing others in the list, others take the stuff more 
seriously and get a bad taste in their mouth about people before they even 
meet them. It's good to remember that just populating one's posts with 
smilies or disclaimers does not fully take the sting out of cruel or 
critical words.

Best regards,

Manuel