To Flame or not to Flame

Posted on 2006/03/11 03:37:58 (March 2006).

[Wednesday 8th March]
I'd got rather wound up at work for a completely non work related reason. To cut a long story short, I'd sent a mail to a mailing list within the company set up for vegetarian employees, forwarding on a reply I'd had from Northwest to a complaint I'd sent about the food on my last flight. Whilst I had a number of positive responses from the mailing list - people saying thanks for representing us etc - I did unfortunately get one very snotty response which rather spoiled an otherwise very positive experience. He basically accused me of sending spam, and said I shouldn't have posted, told me to just stop complaining and "bring my own food" next time, etc etc. As it is an opt-in mailing list, and I thought my post was highly on topic, this really got to me.

I was the bigger man, and resisted the very strong temptation to start a flame war. Instead I sent a very humble and apologetic mail (but underneath that veneer it was laden with sarcasm) directly to the guy who had accused me of spamming, but didn't respond to the list itself. I guess I did the right thing, and was the bigger man etc etc, but I still felt what this socially inept git really needed was a round of public humiliation, which would hopefully persuade him to unsubscribe from the list. I mean, it is rediculous - the very definition of spam is unsolicited bulk mail with a commercial intent. I posted to an opt-in (and thus easily opt-outtable) mailing list, completely on-topic, and certainly not trying to sell anything.

I the evening Chie and I went out for dinner, at an Italian place next to one of our two nearby stations. We'd been once before, prior to moving into the flat, and I think we actually ordered almost exactly the same dishes as the previous time. Still, it was very nice, the sauces were very well made (one tomatoey sauce, and the other a creamy mushroom sauce), and my only slight criticism would be that they didn't have any bread to mop up with afterwards!

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