[RTTY] LIDs

[Ed Muns]

One of the more unfortunate creations in our great hobby is the term "LID".
Having a 3-letter mnemonic to slander our fellow enthusiasts does not
advance radio sport, or ham radio in general.  I'd like to see us take the
high road and strike "LID" from our vocabulary.  That would also be a
symbolic gesture to strike all negative references about our constituents.

Imagine what the amateur radio world would be like if all the references to
"LIDs" were replaced by recognition of good operating and positive
contributions.  How many of us remember the A1 Operators Club (I may not
have the name exactly right) that the ARRL sponsored years ago?  This was a
formal recognition of who we thought were good operators.  Celebrating good
operating will be many fold more beneficial than denigrating each other
publicly.

As an example of how each us can have very diverse reactions, take today's
thread that developed after W4HM's post about avoiding PSK and JT gathering
frequencies.  All the subsequent posts chastised Thomas for his view.
Contrarily, when I read his post prior to all the backlash, my reaction was
"Wow, this is a breath of fresh air in our protracted debate about RTTY
QRMing of JT65 operations."  I'm really glad he spoke up with that
perspective.

In fact, I had composed a very similar posting myself, but decided against
perpetuating a thread that I felt had already spun way out of bounds.  Now,
I regret not sharing my perspective.  Maybe I'll retrieve it and send.

BTW, I'm not against disagreement.  I'm against aggressively attacking
another perspective.  And, I really dislike aggressively attacking the
person in the process.  It's much more effective to express disagreement by
articulating the value of your own perspective.  I also like to identify the
value in someone else's opinion, especially when I initially have a negative
reaction to what they express.  I'm often rewarded with a new and deeper
understanding of the issue on the table.

I challenge all of us who enjoy RTTY operations to set an example for the
rest of our hobby and increase the amount of celebrating the positive rather
than sniping about what we perceive as negative or "wrong" with someone
else's view.

Ed W0YK