[Techtalk] killing me softly

[Terri Oda]

> I didn't mean to offend someone or anyone around here. I just used the term as 
> fun and never had the intention to harass anyone in the group. I know there 
> are other elements of fun but that particular one looked ok to be posted. But 
> never in my widlest dreams I imagined........

<List Administrator Hat On>

I'm glad to hear you didn't mean to offend, but the fact is that you did.
I've now heard a number of complaints both on and off list, and as such I
have to warn you that if this keeps up, I will have to ask you to leave the
list.

This may seem harsh, but you have to understand that the whole point of this
list is to provide a more women-friendly technical forum.  The guidelines
are "Be polite, be helpful." If you're alienating members by referring to
them using derogatory terms, you're not exactly coming across as polite or
helpful.  I know, "it was just in fun," but that's exactly the kind of
"joke" that many people come here to avoid, so I think it's fairly
understandable why people would be unimpressed.  Even hearing "it was only a
joke" gets offensive when you've seen it used to explain all sorts of
inappropriate behaviour, so your appology actually didn't help much.

In the future, please be more careful to think about how people will take
what you type, and if you *do* say something that gets taken badly, a simple
"I'm sorry." can go a long way.

Thanks, 

 Terri