(Hello Dan from Bob from Berwyn, PA,)
Where to begin? If Matanya (or anyone else) lives in a country with a right of free speech, he can exercise it (there). He does not have a right to be heard by me, or expect that I read what he has to say. Wayne does the almost thankless work involved in managing this list (thank you, Wayne). He sets the standards of conduct, and they are pretty clear to all, and quite liberal. Wayne has to consider what is best to provide the best service to all of us. I dare say most of us are not interested in personal disagreements filling up our email boxes, adding a bit more 'grunge' to our daily lives. In the end, it's Wayne's call to make. There are degrees of offensiveness. Over the years we are treated to public outbursts of personal insults, counter insults, retorts. Sometimes it's funny, sometimes annoying. Sometimes some people can't resist the urge to voice provocative political views. Not really the thing for the Lutenet, but we sort of know each other, and political disagreements tend to be less personally vindictive. Somehow it seems less venomous when someone replies 'How can you say that, you idiot!' in response to 'Bush lies and just wants to take over all the oil' (or, 'if it weren't for pusillanimous Europeans like YOU, we wouldn't have to send our young men to die to protect us all, AGAIN..'). The responses are directed more to a point of view than aimed to pierce the soul of the 'victim'. We soon move on to another topic. Ongoing personal feuds, on the other hand, never seem to die out. They just smolder under the surface for a while and then flare up again. About the only thing we might gain is a deeper understanding of human nature. Most of the time we are treated to a stream of informative, interesting messages, often leading to civil discussions. As a group we feel attached to each other somehow, and we rejoice at the return of one of us who has been away for a time (e.g. welcome back, Dana). So, we do care. The lutelist often serves as a valuable resource when time is of the essence - 'does anyone know where I can get a copy of 'Lord Willoughby's broken Chord', set for Cittern?' Usually someone on the list can provide what is needed. What a valuable resource! Thank you Wayne, and thank you all (well, most of you...), Bob Purrenhage ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >Perhaps I have a flawed memory, but it seems there was a time when the list >had interesting threads, provocative debate, and (usually) a level of respect >consistent with an erudite and cultured community that one might expect of >chordophone devotees. Even though the perps do occasionally actually have >valuable contributions, it would be a wonderful thing if they could keep their > >brawls in the saloon and off the lute list. Call me an idealist, but if there >could be more of the Stewart McCoy type of respectful contributions, this list > >could regain some of its former quality. On the other hand, maybe the lute >world has gone in a direction better served without my attention. Cheers, >Dan >Hill, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, USA. > >-- > >To get on or off this list see list information at >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > >
