====================================================================== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. ======================================================================
Ralph Johansen wrote: > occurs. The mission statement on Lou and Les's prefatory page declares > that this list has a very good signal to noise ratio, and while that may > be comparatively true it's still drearily high. That's perhaps an > inescapable aspect of largely anonymous email exchanges, where people do > not meet face to face and one-up-person-ship is often present, but this > doesn't help any of us, man or woman, attend to the main objectives that > discussion here is purportedly about. > The only way that hurtful, uncivil and otherwise counterproductive posts can be blocked from the list is if we had full moderation and vetted every message beforehand. That's the way they do it on H-Net.org and those lists are completely sterile. The problem, as Ralph pointed out, is that email is a different form of communication than face-to-face. Most people don't behave in a face-to-face situation with the kind of hostility that is on display in email. Except for me, I guess. I am a much bigger jerk in person. Part of the reason for the incivility is that debating revolutionary politics is a pretty stressful business. If we had a mailing list on Jane Austen or Maine Coon Cats, I doubt that you'd see the same kind of bruising style. Anyhow, I've been hearing about these problems for about 16 years and don't have any answers except to ask people to think before they post. Review what you wrote and try to soften the edges. Please. ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: [email protected] Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
