----- Original Message ----- From: "J. van Baardwijk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Brin-L" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2002 4:18 PM Subject: Re: Calling someone a Nazi is OK?? (Was: Re: Etiquette)
> At 16:19 30-1-02 -0500, Gautam Mukunda wrote: > > >Censorship (in particular, prior restraint, which is what would be > >be happening if you expelled someone from the list) is something that can, > >in general, be justified only by the requirements of national security. > >Last time I checked, no one on the list with a clearance (is there anyone > >on the list with a clearance?) > > <raises hand> > > >was leaking stuff. > > > >_But_ - to call in an absentee list-owner because you are unable to > >hold your own in an argument is pathetic. > > No absentee listowner was called in for that, Gautam, no matter how much > you want to believe that. > What happened was that I believed John had crossed a line and asked my > fellow listowners for their opinion. Eileen subsequently posted her opinion > on-list. And FYI, that took a while: I submitted my question to the ladies > on January 26; Eileen's on-list reply is dated January 29. Everyone is aware that Eileens only function is to keep the list at Cornell. She is pretty much uninvolved otherwise as far as I can see. > > > >To try and intimidate a listmember into silence is vile. There > >is no defense and no justification for those actions. > > The listowners are NOT trying to intimidate anyone into silence, in case > that is what you believe. If we believe some action should be taken against > someone, we will not take that action lightly. If we are going to > unsubscribe someone, it will be done only after thoroughly discussing the > matter in public and giving the offender a chance to improve his behaviour. Yet the first visible action was a threat from someone the list sees once a year at best. > > Eileen, Julia and yours truly are NOT the listowners from Hell. Yet. Keep in mind that you are being judged by the listmembers. This has all the appearance of being heavyhanded. > > > >Everyone involved with the making of that threat should be ashamed of > >themselves, and so should anyone who supports it. > > A warning, Gautam, not a threat. Saying "shut up or we will shoot you" is a > threat. Telling someone that his behaviour got him one step closer to being > banned is a warning that his behaviour has some room for improvement. > Cheap rationalisation. > > >Anyone want to threaten _me_ with expulsion from the list for saying that? > > Nah. We just unsubscribe you, after which we remove all evidence of you > ever being here from our records. <grin> > > Just kidding, Gautam, just kidding... :-) > Most everyone else seems to be taking this seriously. xponent The Watchers Maru rob
