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Greetings list:
I think if you take great passion for meteorites, throw in large amounts of money, mix in a large dose of pride and ego, add the complexities and stresses of finding/aquiring the stones, blend in varying degrees of stone rarity and the sciences involved, and finally top off with wildly different personalities, you have a potentially volatile cocktail that when mixed and shaken thoroughly, sometimes explodes.
As the former head of a few large companies, I always wanted people on my team that were committed, intelligent, driven, and honest with a passion for what they do. And, when you put those type of people together in a high stress business environment, the wild card is personalities of the individuals and each person's ability to control and manage their interactions. Sometimes it worked well, and sometimes it did not. But, there was always diagreement, and it was healthy for the business. I think disagreements are healthy if "properly handled" in all business and scientific environments, and it certainly is healthy here.
My opinion on the list disagreements: since we have only a few forums where the meteorite community comes together, disagreements will occur and some will be on list. If this were an association where members met quarterly, these disagreements would come out at the meetings if they were not handled one on one in advance. Since we are all electronic, this list is the clearing house. The rules of engagement should be to work it out privately first. However, if someone takes their complaint to the list to get other opinions or simply vent (which can be a good and sometimes productive release of energy), the person that has been targeted by the post certainly has a right to respond to the post on-list. I think that as adults we all know the boundaries and when the line has been crossed (swearing, blatant personal attacks, etc). Setting the record straight is educational, in some form, for all.
For those looking for a perfect world where we all ge along, it is not going to happen. Accept that the aforementioned complexities will always exist. Understand that unless you have a pure science forum where meteorite selling conversations are forbidden, and a meteorite selling forum where science discussions are forbidden, you are going to have disagreements for the history of this list. Personally, I learn a great deal from the disagreements. As someone on the list said recently, I learn who to buy from, who is petty, who is childish, who is smart, who is not so smart, who to trust, not trust, etc. Accept it, and make liberal use of the delete key if any of the posts bother you. If you don't accept the fact that this list will at times air disagreements, you will live in constant frustration. Trying to regulate a complex group like we have around the world and expecting that we will all get along is asking too much. Asking people to be civil when they have disagreements is not asking too much. Just a few thoughts........
Terry B.
StarMeteorites
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