A reporter for The Independent went out testing how much anti-social behaviour he could get away with now it is legal. Fixed-penalty notices (like Strafbefehle) of up to £100 can be issued for many acts, but the reporter, Josh Sims, came out of it unscathed.
bq. For this part of my day I am joined by a willing accomplice, who obliges me by delivering a real steamer. Despite my – and Fido’s – flagrant flouting of the law, his deposit scarcely raises an eyebrow around the park. Some passers-by even look away, presumably to afford my dog some privacy. Together, we walk away from the scene of the crime without attracting so much as an “excuse me”, and all this in contravention of the Litter (Animal Dropping) Order of 1991.
Vielen Dank für die gewünschte gute Besserung! I think however that if this were tried in D-land, the results would be rather different (and I say this as a cyclist who was once fined DM 50 for running a red light on a Sunday afternoon at a stop light at which there were no cars … anywhere).
Ah, there you are!
You may just possibly be right about Germany. I have been wondering recently about UseNet groups. I have followed some not-very-rigorous English-language ones for years now. There is something called Netiquette, as you no doubt know. I am wondering whether German-language UseNet groups like to use the rules of Netiquette as a stick to beat people with. Or do English groups too (I don’t know very many) respond along the lines of, ‘Even though you have just grovellingly apologized to me and licked my boots, I have no intention whatever of replying to your question until you read the article on property quoting – plonk’. It does remind me of life on the roads here.
I don’t know any Engleesh groups that are really fastidious in that way, although there are plenty where newbies will be directed to get a clue if they haven’t already.
If someone kept top-posting after being told not to, I’d probably ignore them – life is short. French and Swedish froups don’t seem much more rigid from limited experience, but German would be the acid test and I of course haven’t.
I can’t remember what the first occasion was. More recently it was someone who responded to almost every posting with a call for Netiquette, in rather rude terms. It wasn’t top-posting, it was just any trivial matter, e.g. using your full name (not every group cares so it’s a RTFM) – long story, but it struck me it was only two Germans I’d found so annoying. It’s not representative because I don’t follow many groups.