<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <TITLE>Message</TITLE> <STYLE>P { MARGIN: 0px } </STYLE> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16414" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <DIV><SPAN class=250325401-28092007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Personally I find that when a thread that I'm participating in starts throwing stones the easiest way to avoid the war is to simply stop participating.</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=250325401-28092007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=250325401-28092007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Mr. B - You poem is brilliant! Thank you.</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=250325401-28092007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=250325401-28092007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>-- Geoff Sykes</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=250325401-28092007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>-- Los Angeles</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=250325401-28092007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=250325401-28092007></SPAN> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV></DIV> <DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Alan Barnard<BR><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, September 27, 2007 4:01 PM<BR><B>To:</B> pianotech@ptg.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> Off List, the Bard Speaketh<BR><BR></FONT></DIV> <P>List Wars<BR><BR>How oft we do snivel, o'er twaddle and drivel<BR>While tempers and nostrils flare,<BR>When Live and Let Live'l be so much more civil<BR>(Or does anyone really still care?)<BR><BR>The big question, however, is how folks endeavor<BR>(While hurling mud, willy-nilly),<BR>To keep themselves clean, no matter how mean,<BR>Over stuff that's really so silly.<BR><BR>And while I'm confused as to why words are used<BR>To wound those who'd be better as friends,<BR>Can we not call a truce and stop this abuse,<BR>Perhaps rethink each message one sends?<BR><BR>You have to wonder (when all's said and done<BR>And the wounded lie bleeding): Who actually won?<BR>And sometimes, too, with all that todo,<BR>Are cyberwars all that much fun?<BR><BR>These Internet blokes hurling barbs, telling jokes<BR>(Near anonymous, though they may be),<BR>Are often defending what they ought to be ending<BR>To save their own sanity.<BR><BR>And yet ... I marvel <BR><BR>That folks with their skin so exceedingly thin<BR>(You usually can see right through 'em)<BR>Are able to function despite this compunction<BR>To spit forth words, and then rue 'em.<BR><BR>After all ...<BR><BR>When one's skin IS so painfully thin,<BR>How DOES one keep one's insides in?<BR><BR>Alan Barnard<BR>Sometime Supersillyass Poet from Salem, MO<BR><BR></P></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>