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To: Tom D who wrote (68194)	7/18/1999 10:14:00 PM
From: Tom Kearney	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

SI has been an enormous boon to my investment activities. I always come here 1st when I want to find out what's really happening on some investment concern. And I really enjoy the variety of opinions people post here. Chat groups in general, which I have participated in through the early '80s starting on CompuServe, have a tendency from time to time to attract incredibly anti-social individuals who, due to the anonymity of the vehicle, feel free to set themselves up specially to be disruptive of everyone else on the thread. It is quite a dark statement about human nature that these people appear so reliably. It's about character. I think someone once tried to start an Intel thread where people were asked to post only if they used their real names. It is interesting that the vast majority of interesting people here do exactly this. It's a little tougher to be a shit when everyone knows who you really are. I realize that there are valid reasons not to do this, and am not suggesting that that should be the rule. I just think it is interesting to notice the ameliorative effect this seems to have. I always start by assuming that an individual will be honest and sharing when they post, and respectful of the other individuals. But, when someone is two faced, constantly makes patently false claims, and determinedly sets about to be a pain in the ass, then it is appropriate to try and do something about it. Just like freedom of speech doesn't grant you the right to shout fire in a crowded theatre, and just like spouting racial and ethnic slurs would not be tolerated, neither should this behavior. All you have to do is act real and I will respect you. I respect and enjoy most of the people here too much, and benefit too much from this service to be happy to see the site trashed. Regards, Tom Kearney