>> So why was it okay in your book for him to say something, but *not* okay in
>> your book for me to say the same thing in response?
>> Or is there one set of rules for me, and another set for everybody else?
>
>Of course there is! You're talking to your customers. The "everybody
>else" you're talking to isn't trying to sell *you* monthly comics
>*they've* created.

Sorry, I don't have customers. Somebody who owns a store and sells to people
has customers. I write books for Marvel, which sells them. I have readers,
yeah, but there's no direct customer relationship.

Second, the people who read my books know what to expect with me, which is that
I don't tend to compromise or back down when I feel it's important not to do
so.

Third, what does the existence of customers or readers have to do with allowing
falsehoods or sniping or character assassination or the like to continue
without saying something?

So basically your position comes down to "Hey, if you're going to be assaulted,
you may as well lay back and enjoy it." Which I don't do, and have never done.

What we have here is a very simple situation. Some likened it to a bunch of
kids in the playground, but what it's really more akin to is a bunch of
teenagers (the minority of users, I should point out) who sit out on the corner
stoop all day, dissing people as they pass, slagging off on everybody...until
one day somebody stops and says, "Excuse me?" and they get all bent out of
shape because somebody had the temerity to call them on it.

>> God forbid it should ever go the other way, that posters should be held
>> accountable for their posts just as writers are held accountable for their
>> books.
>
>Posters are held accountable. That's why we have killfiles.
>
>> Sorry, this is the oldest canard in the net. I've been on since 1984, pal,
>
>
>Really? I'm surprised that you don't seem to understand the above, then.
>(I've only been on and studying the net since 1986, myself.)

Sorry, killfiles don't hold anybody accountable for anything, that just
guarantees that *you* don't see what they're saying, but it doesn't in any way
inhibit or contradict what they're saying. It's the old "If I bury my head in
the sand, you can't see me" philosophy.

To me, being held accountable means that if someone says something that is
flat-out untrue, you call them on it and hold their feet to the fire.

Obviously your mileage differs. Which is fine for you. Not fine for me.

On such differences are horse races played.

jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)