OT: comments on this forum

[peterraymond]

This will probably disappear, but until then, enjoy these comments made by a Frenchman about our forum.

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He seems to go through phases, but when he's feeling politically correct he says things like:

- Love truth, but pardon error.

- Opinions have caused more ills than the plague or earthquakes on this little globe of ours.

- What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly — that is the first law of nature.

- Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.

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When he's being more truthful, or cyninical, you hear things like:

- The secret of being a bore is to tell everything

- A witty saying proves nothing.

- The perfect is the enemy of the good.

- Common sense is not so common,"

- Man ought to be content, it is said; but with what?

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You can tell he's not so different from us though when he posts things like:

- His reputation will go on increasing because scarcely anyone reads him.

- It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong.

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And on the subject of monohulls, you can tell he sails a multihull:

- It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.

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But, what really told me he didn't just post, but actually understood was this:

- To hold a pen is to be at war.

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His name is Voltaire, I think that he fits right in and that he's been spending a lot of time reading boatdesign.net/forums/sailboats.

Peter Raymond

[Guest62110524]

why should it go?
well said enlighted whoeveryou art

[daiquiri]

Nice. It would probably be more appropriate to move it to "Open Discussion" section of the forum, but it doesn't deserve to be cancelled, imho.

And I believe we should all learn and bear in mind one of Voltaire's strongest ideas:
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

[CT 249]

Rather sadly, Peter's second-last quote is just one more example of the fact that some people just can't help belittling, judging and insulting other sailors, simply because they dare to have different tastes in sporting equipment.

[alan white]

Actually, Voltaire, throughout his life, only sailed in monohulls.

[peterraymond]

CT,

Was Voltaire picking on the multi-hull, or mono-hull sailors? It couldn't be me, because I wasn't the one that said that. Or, are you just pulling my chain? I think I fall for that every time.

I intended that quote, like the whole post, to be completely tongue in cheek. You might look up Voltaire and see when he lived as an indication of how serious this post was.

I suppose I was trying to needle the multi sailors in a non-serious way, just because there have been a couple comments from them about how reactionary mono-hull sailors are, but I expected them to have a sense of humor and not be offended. In other words, to take it no more seriously than it was intended.

For similarly insightful comment on this forum I recommend: http://xkcd.com/386/

Peter Raymond

[CT 249]

That's cool, Peter - I was interpreting your post as just one more of the many comments about how reactionary and staid mono sailors supposedly are. The problem is that on the interwebs it's very hard to see how serious someone is, especially when other people make identical comments that are meant to be taken seriously!

I have to admit, I get easily riled about the sort of comment I thought you were making, because they seem to have a very destructive effect and no side benefits. I suppose it's a case of "I disapprove of what you sail, but I will defend to the death your right to sail it - and to be respected whatever you sail".

Yeah, I love that XKCD cartoon too - it's a bit of a staple around my place, but I just can't help feeling like the character in it!

Mea culpa.

[peterraymond]

CT, It's tough to read intention without facial expression and intonation. Harder still in short posts, and nobody reads long ones. I think a lot of flame wars would be avoided if everyone started out knowing each other, but it would sure cut into the trans-hemispherical conversations.

As an engineer I lean towards multi's, because they're faster. Or maybe hydrofoils, since drag is easier to analyze. As a sailor, well I guess they all have their advantages. Most of this argument seems to revolve around what would be best for the next AC, so I won't edge any closer to that discussion in this thread.

Peter Raymond

[hoytedow]

I try to use smilies to give an indication of the intended intonations of my posts.

[gonzo]

The War of The Pens? We use to joust with our pencils in grammar school.