"Mark Williamson" <node.ue(a)gmail.com> wrote in
message news:849f98ed0506130501469f774f@mail.gmail.com...
[snip]
An example might be, speaking in front of a crowd,
saying "Almost all
of you did a terrific job. However, there are some people here in whom
I am disappointed. You know who you are" is better than saying
"Everybody did well except John Doe, Jane Smith, and Tom Buck, in all
of whom I am extremely disappointed".
A couple of points. Firstly, the above smacks of a boss-worker relationship,
which AFAIK does not hold within Wikipedia, except maybe with Jimbo :-)
Second, this is only actually worthwhile if you have already spoken to those
with whom you are disappointed, so that they know (so that arrogant b*st*rd
John Doe can't sit there smugly and think "well, he's not talking about
me")
and also if you make it quite clear that you are *not* disappointed with
anyone with whom you have not already spoken (so that shy, timid Alice
Mouseling doesn't sit there quaking in her chair thinking "he must mean
me").
Whether or not you've spoken to the arrogant b*st*rds to whom your words are
really directed, there are many shy timid types who will think you mean them
and will take great hurt from your perceived criticism.
--
Phil
[[en:User:Phil Boswell]]