Kerry: The Lurkers Support Me in E-mail
Mar. 16th, 2004 11:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
billroperNo, that's not exactly what he said, but doesn't it sound familiar to old Usenetters like me?
I used to spend a lot of time on Usenet. I still spend a fair amount of time there. And, Usenet being Usenet, arguments tended to break out a lot. One of the frequent refuges of someone who was unable to support their position with logic, whose arguments were being shredded by others on the newsgroup, was to resort to a claim that there were many anonymous people -- who could not be quoted or named, because that would be a violation of Netiquette -- who actually had sent private e-mail supporting the unsupportable position that was being staked out. Such claims were generally categorized as "The Lurkers Support Me in E-mail".
And we laughed at those people.
Now, the Democratic candidate-apparent for President, John Kerry, has announced that many world leaders have privately told him that they hope that he beats Bush in the upcoming election. Of course, he can't quote any of them, because that would be a violation of etiquette.
Shouldn't we laugh at him too?
Mind you, I suppose that he wouldn't want to name some of the world leaders who are supporting him. Naming North Korean leader Kim Jong Il among your supporters just doesn't strike me as a great career move. Of course, I could be wrong...
I used to spend a lot of time on Usenet. I still spend a fair amount of time there. And, Usenet being Usenet, arguments tended to break out a lot. One of the frequent refuges of someone who was unable to support their position with logic, whose arguments were being shredded by others on the newsgroup, was to resort to a claim that there were many anonymous people -- who could not be quoted or named, because that would be a violation of Netiquette -- who actually had sent private e-mail supporting the unsupportable position that was being staked out. Such claims were generally categorized as "The Lurkers Support Me in E-mail".
And we laughed at those people.
Now, the Democratic candidate-apparent for President, John Kerry, has announced that many world leaders have privately told him that they hope that he beats Bush in the upcoming election. Of course, he can't quote any of them, because that would be a violation of etiquette.
Shouldn't we laugh at him too?
Mind you, I suppose that he wouldn't want to name some of the world leaders who are supporting him. Naming North Korean leader Kim Jong Il among your supporters just doesn't strike me as a great career move. Of course, I could be wrong...