Subject: Crackpot messages

10. *****
 Q: How should I react to crackpot messages?

 A: Crackpot postings and email are very often religious or sexual
in nature, but sometimes take other peculiar forms. These are in a
way very sad cases, since they are likely to reflect bad personal
problems or even mental disturbances. These cases need professional
help, and the net is not the place to try it, nor is it a suitable
media for serious treatment. Flames certainly won't help matters. We
can only wish that the poster realizes his/her own state, and seeks
proper help.
   What should an ordinary user do about such postings on the news.
The best course of action is plain ignore them even if you would
itch to respond. Put the subject (or the offender's address) in your
news kill file. (If you are using rn to read your news, do not know
how to use kill files, see ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/doc-net/
killfile.zip and /pc/pd2/tspost17.zip item "Re: A kill file
example"). Following up the crackpot posting with condemning
comments is self-defeating, because many of these ill perverts get a
significant part of their kicks out of the attention they are able
to stir up by their crackpot behavior. In a sick person's disturbed
mind even strongly negative attention is often better than none.
Don't oblige on the net, since it will only make matters worse.
   BTW, the most peculiar message I've ever received propounded "My
rabbit's feathers are longer than your rabbit's". But this was a
response to an argument from a notorious fellow Finn (who had a few
years ago an unfortunate predilection to create controversy to draw
attention to himself).
   In the case of religion, drawing the line is sometimes difficult.
Some otherwise normal, well-meaning, sometimes even highly
professional persons may feel a compulsion to profess their
religious faith publicly, and even try to convert others. These
persons should, however, remember that flaunting one's faith may
offend others, who have different concepts of life.
   Another, and a more complicated question, are the suggestions of
setting up crackpot newsgroups of the type of recent.alien.visitors
or sci.paranormal, and others that have no connection with physical
reality. If you want to respond to such suggestions in the news, at
least take the discussion away from the ordinary newsgroups to
news.groups where it is better placed. The news postings headers
have a field called "Followup-To:". Use that and write news.groups
in there.
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