Only a few thoughts here although I've been thinking about this a lot. Coming up with ideas on how to settle the list is turning out to be a lot like trying to figure out how to juggle the seating for my wedding: who can sit next to the other, which aunt tends to burp more than most and needs a seat by the window; there's just a lot to consider.
A couple of issues stick out for me and they are: 1. Intimidation of potential posters/rudeness/abuse: I tend to be hard lined on this one in that I think that a lot of intimidation is self created and you need to feel confident in your post and let the chips fall where they may if you get strong and sharply worded rebuttals. I think that there are such a wide variety of communication styles. We are all a complex make up of passive/agressive personalities or straightforward ones or the types that get easily hurt by strong statements or the type that wouldn't be insulted if the words were in bold faced, super-sized font. I read one member say that they've spent a lot of energy NOT responding to posts. And maybe that's what we need to do. Write your post but hold onto it for a day. Does it graciously advance a view point or does it advance the wildfire? Of course, either of those two perspectives is in the eye of the beholder and therein lies another problem. 2. List Monitoring: I hate to use that old chestnut, "I've been on this list a long time," but here it goes: I've been on this list since just about the very beginning and this is a common cycle. Not just post 9/11, but there have been many threads that have often shut down the list for days. No one posted anything. Nothing at all. And then you would see a few tentative souls venture forth with a "JC" post and it would start up nicely all over again. And from that history, I will say that the list HAS improved. I can remember posts that were a much nastier than what I'm seeing now. Much nastier. Plus, it took people longer to say: "hey, this is not promoting harmony, knock it off." So while I'm loathe to agree with only xx number of posts a day and only xx number of words at that, I think that it might be better if Les chose a "hey youse guys, straighten up!" post when appropriate. As Bob M. said, when Les posts, people listen. 3. Misc. stuff: People ought not forget that this is the Internet. The JMDL is not a gated community although there are some components of that. You enter at your own risk and one of those risks is that you get stupid off list posts. Sometimes nasty off list posts. I think that's just par for the course when you deal with a bunch of strangers. The way the cookie crumbles and all that. Either delete it or find some common ground. (I think that that was a suggestion from Vince a few weeks ago). 4. Joni Content: She's a finite subject. T'log while a new album is old stuff. There's no upcoming tour. So things are going to turn "general" and to keep the Joni spirit alive, perhaps we should try to actively post a JC thread, not get discouraged when it dies quickly and then try again. Lori had the car thing and that was fun. We had parodies about 5 years ago and that was hilarious. Maybe it's time to try that again. 5. My laundry: It's tapping me on the shoulder and begging for attention. Thanks Les for a great list. (although I wouldn't want to have to say that 10 times fast). MG
