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Subject:ADMIN: Bringing it back to normal From:"Eric J. Ray" <ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Sun, 03 Dec 2000 11:16:12 -0700
Gang,
In considering the latest fracas on list, I went back and
reread all messages posted to the list by the protagonists
over the last month, plus all messages that I have exchanged
with each privately.
My assessment:
Dan Emory has ignored my earlier requests (both on list and privately)
not to get personal, and, more specifically, insisted on
continuing this challenge/response vendetta onlist, previous
ADMIN: messages notwithstanding. (We'll note that _Andrew_ wasn't
the person who called for a public critique of his writing--that
was Tim Altom. Andrew has often pointed people to his work, but
not as an invitation for public nitpicking.) After careful
consideration of his valuable contributions to the list
(when he's not pursuing his vendetta), I've suspended Dan's
posting privileges. (To clarify, BTW, under no circumstances would
the TECHWR-L Site publish a critique of this nature, particularly
given the malicious intent.)
Tim Altom issued the initial request for a p*ssing contest and
persisted in attempting to continue his vendetta onlist. I
exchanged several mails with Tim about this topic and asked that
he stop this confrontation immediately, but apparently
in vain. (For those of you who pointed out the marketing/advertising
subtext of Tim's persistence, your point is valid, but not under
consideration here.) After careful consideration of his
contributions to the list over the past several years, and after
weighing the disservice to the list of his vendetta against Andrew,
I've suspended Tim's posting privileges.
Andrew Plato has not, in this case nor in the last month, broken
(or even severely bent) the rules about addressing _issues_, rather
than _personalities_. You may agree with him or may disagree with
him, may like his approach or not, may see his postings as offensive
bombast or clever rhetorical initiatives, but I cannot find anything
in his actions over the past month that would call for suspension of
posting privileges. I expect, however, that he will be extraordinarily
restrained for the foreseeable future.
To anticipate the mail that I'll get tomorrow, let me just toss out
a couple of extra answers:
* We're not running a popularity contest here. You may or may not
disagree with the positions taken by anyone on the list, but
I refuse to silence anyone just because of the number of people
who ask me to. Phrased more explicitly, I don't care if 98%
of the people on the list email me and ask me to make Andrew
shut up--as long as he's addressing technical communication issues
and not attacking people on the list, he's well within his rights
and I will not stifle his expression.
* I'm not taking a stand on the validity of either point of view;
rather, I'm simply stating that the semantic distinction between
"Fanatically advocating a position is nuts" and "You, a fanatic
advocate, are nuts" is significant. The former is acceptable on
this list; the latter, not.
As Tim put it:
> The list's tone has changed and borderline lurkers may have
> been driven further back into the shadows to avoid
> having mud spattered onto them.
Actually, though, they just sign off the list, thus making the
overall resource that much less valuable to all of us. (For
everyone with a pressing problem who hopes for an answer from
this list, we can hope that the people with your answers weren't
among those who left in the last two weeks because of people who
opt to publicly pursue a vendetta at all costs.)
See the rules below for a reminder of what's expected from
participants in this forum.
Do not respond to this message onlist.
Eric
ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com
TECHWR-L Listowner
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POSTING RULES FOR TECHWR-L
Revised 11 July 2000
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