Geoff -- I infer you're asking if we could block the mud-slinging. We could block a mudslinger entirely by simply throwing him off the list, but I'm afraid that censoring each submitted posting by having a human "gatekeeper" reading each before blocking it or letting it through -- that may be technically possible but not possible in practice, for numerous reasons.
One of the premises of this list is the allowance of "free-exchange", vigorous give-and-take in which to test inchoate, new ideas under fire. >From time to time the exchanges get too hot, and spill out of the cooking pan into ad hominem flames, so we ask listers to cool it, and they do -- for a while. If you go to http://www.artphilosophytalk.com you will see our dignified mission statement, but it's true that dignity has not been our salient characteristic. It's probably no credit to us that we have become quite used to it. Listers who cannot tolerate the tone simply quit the forum, and that is regrettable. The only time we have kicked someone off, it was not so much for being nasty as for consistently being irrelevant to art and philosophy -- using the forum for preachments about religion, politics, and other impertinences. -- cheerskep In a message dated 10/10/08 3:39:05 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > Chris referred to "competive mud-slinging". I thought that discursive > discussion might be the terminology others might employ. > Geoff C > > > >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Reply-To: [email protected] > >To: [email protected] > >Subject: Re: Expertise and aesthetic experience > >Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:34:54 EDT > > > >In a message dated 10/10/08 2:43:38 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > > > > > > Are there options to discursive discussion on the list? > > > > >Watchoo mean? > > ************** New MapQuest Local shows what's happening at your destination. Dining, Movies, Events, News & more. Try it out (http://local.mapquest.com/?ncid=emlcntnew00000002)
