Slamming: Majority rules?

[Michelle Corbin Nichols <tigger -at- VNET -dot- NET>]

OK, I've had my dinner, and while eating it, I pondered the posts on
slamming.  Having seen someone quote my words back at me,
"....We are technical communicators trained in the art of communication.
One would think that our electronic community would exhibit more of our
basic training than the influences of the Internet as a whole...."
I realized that my "argument" was full of hooey.  (Ha! I'm slamming myself!)

I went out to the archives and re-read all of the posts on slamming and
tried to understand what was really going on inside of me that I chose to
agree with Steven's original post.  I do still think that some slamming
goes on in this list, but it is certainly not excessive.

I did come up with something that I'd like to throw out for consideration:
Perhaps it isn't a single post that slams someone, but the collective set
of posts that seem to gang up on a person.  If you dare to present an idea
that is different from the rest, whether it be opinion or personal
experience, it seems like the thread of discussion dies when majority has
ruled. People feel compelled to add their own words to the discussion, even
if no new information is provided, so when you see post after post from so
many different people, you no longer want to try and partipate in the
discussion.

Perhaps I should stop over-analyzing things and get back to putting away
the laundry.   :)

TTFN,
Michelle

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