Im not going to comment on the E&E thread (although Mark is pretty correct in
his assesment) but I am going to comment on the "NJC" angle of the original
thread. I think he has accurately depicted the past experience on the JMDL.
This is I believe my 3rd or 4th year. It is true that NJC threads can go on
for a long time with little if any objection but then when the subject
involves certain subjects (he referrs to "gay" issues) then a holler and
objection to that thread springs up. There are any number of subjects that
seem to raise an immediate objection etc etc. the bottom line is there are
(or should be) two very strong rules that shouldnt require a formal JMDL
policy. (1) any one should be allowed to post anything without some faction
resenting it and raising cain on the list itself. THAT is a waste of
bandwith.. and (2) everyone should watch and practice self government on what
they allow THEMSELVES to post. In olden days there was this thing called
"civility". people would automatically refrain from broaching subjects that
they know would raise hackles etc. Of course nowadays people are on the one
hand more forcefully asserting their views and "rights". At the same time
tolerance of various views has become a very subjective matter. The purpose
of the Newsgroup was to foster (or is it fester) greater love appreciation or
understanding of the art(s) of Joni Mitchell. Even though Ms. Joni might sing
about certain subjects it should prompt us all to refrain from too much
editorializing. All this of course would lead to a repressed psyche of the
listers as a whole. Some will never stop. Some will never post. having said
all this I am led to the conclusion that (1) we should all promote and
consider civility first in anything we post (2) if someone fails to post an
NJC post as NJC we should all simply let it go unless the matter grows into
something intolerable. After all it is a forum whether it is labeled as such
or not.
