Wow. One warning and just about everyone reacts as though I've flayed, dismembered, disembowelled, quartered and totally annihilated a listmember. It's a sign that things are being taken way too seriously around here. I don't know whether I'm more amused or disappointed.
And no, Jeroen didn't "run to mummy", as some of you have so nicely put it. The tone of the last few posts in that thread had been going steadily bad. Shouting brings it a giant step down, at which point I decided it was time to head it off before it got worse. Posting the warning onlist was harsh, and I sincerely apologize for that. But police action? Hardly. Call it a penalty flag for rough play instead. Not posting = inactive, however, not being active doesn't mean not reading posts and following threads, which, over the last year, appear to be: 1. Oh look, here's something interesting I came across. 2. Coherent arguments are posted, and after going through the layers, finally decays and assumes the form of "America-vs-rest-of-the-world". 3. Everyone tries to get the last word in. 4. Someone unsubs or threatens to (which is one of those things I don't fully grok. It's not like the universe is going to collapse if they did or anything. Just don't slam the door on the way out, thank you). 5. Finally sulk and gripe about how such things wouldn't have happened in the good ol' days. Wash, rinse, repeat. Can anyone honestly say that they can view Jeroen's posts objectively after a few rounds of this, and vice-versa? Incidentally, don't diss Jeroen for trying to bring aggressive members back in line. He is not out to silence his opponents just because he's losing an argument (heck, he's about the only Euro who's actively defending non-US viewpoints. Call that courage/pride/pigheadedness or whatever). Get to know him better and you'll see a earnest dedication to the list - statistics, archives, ex-party and maintaining a fairly active webpage. And I don't think that's because he's got a lot of free time to throw around on things like this. Who would do the duty of enforcing guidelines during a heated discussion if everyone is too emotionally involved or apathetic to do so? Which brings us to what we want this list to be, either 1) A no holds barred battleground. Be as rough as you want, but don't come running to the adults if the other kids start playing foul, and stop whining about how everything was so much better in the past. And while we're at it, this place can be renamed dillrats-l and moved elsewhere to avoid trapping poor innocent newbies looking for an sf list. or 2) Land of fun. Then make it so. Think before you post, and be responsible for what you write. Don't diss anyone just because they failed to cite twenty references in their post - intellectual snobbery gets you nowhere. And don't be afraid to tell each other off if you feel that someone's getting out of line. At most you'll get a ding, rather than the business end of a flamethrower. Now everyone, listowners included, go recite a hundred IAAMOACs as penance and then get on with the good stuff. Eileen
