New year, as always, brings new, exciting things. I, for one, now have someone to share my bed with. Nah, it's not what you think. No, really, it's not. There's a new hire joining our company, resulting in us having to clean out the cubicle we used as an emergency pantry. I even changed my deodorant, how 'bout that.

Yeah, a lot of new stuff. Some things, though, remain unchanged.

Every morning, I still find email messages from concerned strangers, accusing me of not being able to satisfy my GF due to a certain section of my anatomy lacking size. And you know what, their claims are true, of course. Set theory states that for every element of an empty set, the property holds. Since I have no GF, too bad, anyone can say anything about my GF and it'll all be true.

I still can't sleep early, despite all the resolutions. Well, just because you made some resolutions, that doesn't mean you have to be resolute about them.

And on most mailing lists, people are still quick to judge or dismiss others. Tolerance, especially in treating new or uninformed members, seems a dead art. This is especially true on technology lists. For one reason or others, technical people like to think they know everything and those who don't are not worthy of inhabitation of the same space.

How often you see one ask a question on troubleshooting Windows -- you can substitute that with any M$ application -- and in response get various forms of "I can't believe anyone is still on Windows these days; get Linux" -- you can substitute that with any open-source application, even those no one ever heard of -- "already!"

How common it is for new members to be ridiculed because they ask very trivial questions. Questions that have been beaten to death, resurrected, and beaten to death again on that list, obviously. Questions which answers to can be found in the archives with a minimum amount of tech savvy.

Honestly, I would say that I, too, have been guilty of such scowling, albeit privately. But it seems that I tolerate such users better than some if not most people. If anything, I find it harder to tolerate those who don't. That's right, I find it harder to tolerate intolerance. Which makes me intolerant myself, I guess.

It's just that I feel some of this coming hard on less informed could be handled better. And don't give me that "Oh, you know, this being all written, it's easy to misunderstand the poster's intention. He was just joking, we do that all the time" crap. Expressing something in writing doesn't exempt one from the responsibility of being civil. And please, no "I should've put a smiley face to show it was all in the name of fun," either.

Think before you type. Think. Were you telling someone to his or her face what you're about to type, would that someone be offended? If so, then don't. Simple as that. Fine, you might well be joking and the other party might not get that. Same thing with oral conversations, isn't it? Some jokes might rub someone the wrong way. That applies to written conversations as well.

And when one does offend another party, all caution notwithstanding, what does one do? One would apologize, right? At least the civilized would. And mean it. Don't go along the "I'm sorry you're offended, but had you been smarter, you would've gotten what I really meant" line 'cause dude, that's so gay! If you've done some action, you'd better own it.

That said, I have a lot to learn myself. I need to be better at tolerating the intolerant. Hey, if I can tolerate God-crazy people and bloggers, there's no reason I can't tolerate a bunch of list members who think the world of themselves, is there?

All right, I had better stop here and practice what I preach.

Speaking of new stuff this new year, I have new favs on TAR Asia. I can't explain it, but the Malaysian sisters have somehow grown on me. They're not the most athletic, nor are they the most functional. Something I can't put a finger on has endeared them to me. Oh well, yet another proof that feelings and logic have their moments apart.

Current music: Peterpan - Menghapus Jejakmu
Current mood: happy