[wplug-plan] Problem with rude audience members at recent talks

John Harrold jmh17 at pitt.edu
Mon May 2 15:22:55 EDT 2005


Sometime in May Bobbie Eicher assaulted the keyboard and produced:

Note: I wasn't there this weekend.

| I don't think that we should draw any parallel at all between what
| happened during that talk and someone just forgetting to turn his cell
| phone off.  A cell phone ringing during a talk or a class or a meeting
| or whatever is just something that's going to happen from time to
| time.  People will forget and that's all right.  To actively engage in
| a conversation on a cell phone during a talk or anything of the sort
| is an entirely different matter, and extraordinarily rude.

music: It's inconsiderate cell phone man...

| There were also some people who appeared to feel that they knew better
| than the speaker, either in the form of thinking he (for some reason)
| required their very vocal approval, or insisting on suggesting a long
| list of what they believed to be holes in his reasoning.  This kind of
| thing is fine during some of the very informal GUM meetings where
| everyone knows each other and the talk is little more than someone
| leading a discussion.

I had a friend who went to a wplug meeting a while back (last year
sometime, I don't remember the topic), and he mentioned that something like
this happened during that meeting. He felt that it made things seem
unorganized and the speaker didn't get a chance to formulate their
thoughts, finish their sentences, etc. I told him to emial beth with some
constructive comments. However, I don't know if he did.

| In this case, however, it was a man who didn't know us well, who
| speaks on this topic professionally (and does it impressively well, at
| that), and who was dealing with a much larger group than is normally
| involved in GUMs, and he deserved the courtesy of a little restraint.

I agree, though I think this courtesy should be extended to all people
speaking.

-- 
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