"Time spent with elephants is never wasted time".

 

Although I think that might refer to real elephants. ;-)

 

 

Lynne, great post. 

Many a time have I benefited from this web resource and I am more than grateful to those who contribute to it with their printables and/or advice on the forum. Many a time, dear native and non-native speakers , have you provided valuable insight into the language issues that cannot be googled or found in a grammar book! This gave me courage to do the same and contribute or give my suggestions on the forum. This is why I value this website and want it free from any sarcasm, trolling and other spam. 

I loved the wiki link, it would be very desirable if some of the community members (you know who I mean!) had it printed and read daily!

 

"Don �t be a jerk" is a fundamental rule of all social spaces. Every other policy for getting along with others is a special case of this rule. Although nobody is expected to ban or block somebody for jerkitude (as that itself would be an instance of such), it �s still a bad idea to be a jerk. So don �t be one. If a significant number of reasonable people suggest, whether bluntly or politely, that you are being one, the odds are good that you are not entirely in the right.

Being right about an issue does not mean you �re behaving properly! Jerks are often right � but they �re still jerks. If there �s something in what they say that �s worth hearing, it goes unheard because no one likes listening to them. It doesn �t matter how right they are.

This is not the same as just being uncivil or impolite (though incivility and rudeness often accompany it). One can be perfectly civil and follow every rule of etiquette and still be wrong. Standard moves, for example, include such things as willfully (but politely) drawing attention to minor errors in spelling or grammar of an interlocutor �s comments, disregarding the Chomskian distinction between language competence and language performance. Truly being civil and polite means that you show respect for others (such as in not needlessly pointing out grammar issues), even when right.

Respect others even when you disagree. Sometimes the best weapon is to disarm your opponent by disarming yourself (via civil and constructive behaviour), transforming an opponent into a collaborator. Subduing one �s opponent without fighting is not only the highest form of mastery, it is also a winning solution for all editors involved as well as the encyclopedia. Benjamin Franklin wrote: He that has once done you a Kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged.

 

 No, Sophia,not at all!  It was a general quotation and has nothing to do with you or anything you have posted.

On the contrary, you are the sort of person to set examples to others, imho. 

I do not get what piece of info you �re referring to...

Dear Sophia, you are always extremely helpful and polite.

Lynne