You're more than welcome to set up a forum, blog, another email list. Anything you want. Host it in the cloud, host it on a Commodore 64 in your basement. Whatever makes you happy. And, please let us know about it .. once. Some of us may want to join you.
Make up your own rules to keep things civil, have no rules at all. It's yours, it's your choice. This email list, however, is not yours. The rules on this list were not pulled out of the air randomly by Anestis, rip, or me. It's not our list. Every single rule we follow exists for a reason. Correcting someone who makes a mistake is an act of kindness. The fact that someone is deeply offended at being corrected is quite simply backwards. And lashing out at being corrected is beyond rude. The polite thing to do when entering a new community, making a mistake and being corrected is to apologize, ask where to find the rules of the community (assuming they weren't provided) and move on. A thread should last only a few posts. The initial post, a couple reminders, an apology and a "no problem, welcome to the list" or three. You're going to get a couple reminders, deal with it. It's an email list, not a forum, and email isn't delivered instantaneously, despite your experience to the contrary. Early responders aren't going realize that someone else posted a response first. It's just the nature of the beast. Putting the blame for extending threads, for days on end, on the people trying to be helpful is also backwards. The blame lies entirely on the rude individuals lashing out at being corrected. Instead of apologizing and defusing the situation, they lash out, responding to each and every "attack". We go through the entire cycle nearly every time. It's the same litany of nonsense: the "list cops" are rude, the rules are stupid, etc, etc. No, the "list cops" are trying to be helpful. And the fact that you can't comprehend a reason for a rule makes you somehow right, is what's rude. Calling someone a Nazi, when they're only trying to be helpful, is rude. This community is in the vicinity of 20 years old. And quite frankly, it's amazing we've lasted this long without a list of rules rivaling the works of Shakespeare. There aren't many of them, but they work well. The links have been provided over and over, and can be again upon request. They're relatively simple, and following them is the polite thing to do. Bret
