>No apologies needed. I just remember so well person after person taking on
>JDG trying to talk about different stuff (abortion, death penalty,
>politics). While I think Dan talked the longest and the hardest, I came to
>feel the guy just got off on fanning flames of dissention. Sort of like
>what's going on now, IMO.
Well, not surprisingly, I differ. With respect to JDG, while we cannot
really know the motivations of others, everything I see indicated that he
expressed strongly held convictions that differed from yours. As Obama
said this morning, we should be able to civilly differ when strongly held
opinions differ...particularly on a mailing list where RL is only
occassionally involved.
For a while Brin-L was a place where I feel those exchanges could take
place. I think the break point came with the big blow up..on Brin-L 1a.
There were RL complications from that blow-up, and the list has not been
the same since.
Part of it is that, IMHO, IAAMOAC was so compromised, that it passionate
discussions became more personal. Another part is that a number of regular
participants left the list immediately. At the present time I, a former
Obama delegate, is the closest thing to a long time conservative voice on
this list (e.g. I was the one arguing strongly against the idea that "Bush
deliberately destroying the twin towers is as believeable as the official
version of 9-11) . Like the blogosphere....respect for differing opinions
have diminished here. I would suggest that is part of the reason why
contrary opinions are usually found with folks like John. This is not a
friendly place for a conservative, even one who could find welcome among
very prominent liberal voices.
>And Yeah, the women probably are hiding.
I understand your problem with signal to noise, but when John isn't
stirring something up, to first order, everyone is hiding. Back in April,
there was not one post from a woman, and less than 50 from men. You and I
probably define signal and noise differently, but those 50 posts contained
very little new and interesting. Nothing wrong with them, just that they
didn't say much.
So, the signal is clearly down from what it was before the break-up. I'll
agree the signal/noise ratio is down, but IMHO, the lack of signal is the
biggest contributing cause. If you notice how many different folks posted
in the last 6 weeks compared to the number of posters in April-May, you
will see that a lot more people feel they have something to say now. Even
you. :-)
Dan M.
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