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Fascinating! Why is it certain topics evoke such vigorous and vehement opposition form certain people. And why is it those “opponents” often are the same people in each of the different arguments? e.g. -Creationism (or simply repudiating Darwinian theory) vs Darwin -Microsoft vs Open Source software (although the latter proponents usually feel that another proprietary software company is OK – Apple) My observations would be that the “opponents” usually have a lot less humour in their arguments, a lot less balance in their arguments, and usually show no evidence of really listening to what the other side is saying. The other side eventually give up trying to discuss the matter, under the sheer weight of e-mails pouring into their mailboxes. The opponents seem to enjoy the arguments, and never concede any points to their opponents. And the opponents are usually male. Somewhere in the middle will be genuinely interested parties (most females will be in this group), who will make an occasional comment or question that is unfortunately swamped in the rapid interchange of e-mails between the protagonists and their opponents. Some of these “middle” people will helpfully try to interject some humour to attempt to defuse what can rapidly become a flame war. I have absolutely no evidence for any of the above, apart from my own observations of various mail lists over the years. I look forward to being shot down in flames… Laurie Miles ________________________________________ From: GP-UK [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Clegg Sent: 02 February 2007 7:08 pm To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [GP-UK] Action against climate change Some days, just some days, not many mind you, I wish I was as clever as you Midge. On 02/02/07, Adrian Midgley < [log in to unmask]> wrote: John Clegg wrote: > Adaptation - survival of the fittest - certainly occurs, and is what > you describe. However, true evolutionary theory requires this process > to produce a genetically distinct being. How?? Mutation of many genes > all at once?? Why? Oh good grief! This is a typical mis-statement of speciation. On another note, Icedove (Thunderbird's derivative on Debian Linux), regards each of John's postings as "junk". The Bayesian filter of course. ********************************************************************** Information in this message may contain confidential and privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient please accept our apologies; please do not disclose, copy or distribute information in this e-mail or take any action in reliance on its contents: to do so is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. Please inform us that this message has gone astray before deleting it. Thank you for your co-operation. NHSmail is used daily by over 100,000 staff in the NHS. Over a million messages are sent every day by the system. To find out why more and more NHS personnel are switching to this NHS Connecting for Health system please visit www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/nhsmail **********************************************************************