offend & abuse

[Joe]

In a forum guidelines, I saw:

Try not to offend other users of the board. (avoid using swearwords etc.)
Try not to abuse other users of the board. And please don't create an abusive thread on the board.

I don't see a major difference between "offend" and "abuse", which makes me believe that one of them is redundant. To my non-native eyes, the two are both like "using swearwords to attack someone" in this specific context. What do you think? Thanks.

[Francois]

One can offend people with gentleman's manners, eg. a polite, well-mannered Holocaust revisionist making his (nauseating) points.
If you abuse people, you obviously have no manners, even if your intentions were not initially bad eg. you've been dragged into a discussion with a revisionist, and you heartedly replied to the bunch of garbage he's been spouting, instead of reporting him to the moderators.

FRC

[Tdol]

If you are deliberately rude, you are being abusive. If you express views that might hurt, you are offending.

[Joe]

Francois, long time no see! You seem to post in the forum less often than before, so it's really nice to see your reply to my question. I must say your clear explanation just blew away the clouds of confusion in my mind. Many thanks.

Tdol, I'm looking forward to learning more from you in 2005. You are really a pleasant co-host.

Happy New Year!

[Joe]

Originally Posted by Francois

you've been dragged into a discussion with a revisionist, and you heartedly replied to the bunch of garbage he's been spouting, instead of reporting him to the moderators.

FRC

Francois, it seems to me that a revisionist is quite a bad guy in what you've written. But I think "revisionist" per se is a neutral word. Do you think it is that bad to be a revisionist? (I'm definitely not talking about politics).

[Francois]

Hi Joe!
I'm still hanging around, though I usually drop by once a day only.
An Holocaust revisionist is a "bad guy" indeed. The term "revisionist" can be used in several contexts, but in France for example the word is so much "tainted" that it is never used except for the aforementioned meaning. The verb "collaborer" is another example -- it is still used in French, but one must be very careful b/c it very often conjures up collective memories from the German occupation in WWII, when some Frenchmen actually helped the German (they "collaborated"). A most shameful part of our History...
Back to revisionist, I don't know of the other non-politics related meanings.

Happy New Year Joe!

FRC