"Michael Harney" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>The problem is that there is a perpetual debate between two extremes,
>and no moderator to say when the debate is over or who has won.
>Eventually,
>people become frustrated with this and leave.
An argument can't proceed with only one side posting. If you are engaged in
a debate and want it to be over then swallow your pride and shut up. Ignore
the one or two posts that come in trailing off the end of the debate, or
politely post and say, "I'm sorry, I'm investing too much time and energy
into this, and feeling personally attacked, and need to take a break."
The other posters aren't going to hunt you down and force you to continue.
If the specific debate topic is the only reason they're on the list then
they'll depart. Likely, they're not and will respect you wanting to move on
to other topics.
Leaving the list is, IMHO, throwing the baby out with the bath water, but
it's a personal choice.
Personally, I just skim messages I'm not interested in and hit delete. I
enjoy watching the play-by-play and learn a lot more than I would if I
filtered those messages out based on topic or poster, regardless of whether
or not I contribute.
>If we want the list to heal,
>the solution is obvious, we simply have to realize that each of us has our
>views, and none of us are going to give in on those views,
The basics of a civilized culture...
>and simply agree
>to disagree and drop the talk about politics.
Erm, no. Politics is, in some ways, the mere fact that we disagree about
things that actually matter in the real world. As soon as something moves
from fantasy to reality it becomes political - take cloning, or genetically
modified crops, terraforming (or un-terraforming), or a missile defense
system.
>So, I move to add an amendment to the list policy of "All is Brin". I move
>that we amend it to say "All is Brin except politics". If we wish to
>discuss the policital systems of Sci-fi Novels, that's fine, but let's keep
>real world politics out of the discussion.
>
>All in favor say "Aye".
>All opposed say "Nay".
Nay.
Joshua
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
