Re: Putin Gets Jared's Vote

["José G. Pérez" <jgperez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>>I suspect that when the list numbers about 400, it will have reached the
limits for normal functioning of an email list. I would prefer that those
of you who feel that the list is a Red-Brown swamp to leave right now
rather than trying to change the character of the list. There are people
waiting in line who will gladly take the seat that you have vacated.<<

Louis,

    It's probably true that as a practical matter a listserv of 400 or 500
(except for a tightly moderated or restricted one) is likely to prove
extremely unwieldly and difficult to use.

    However, if your approach leads to an increasing ideological
differentiation between lists, I'm not sure that would be such a good thing.

    If it were possible to do so on the open internet, what I'd suggest is
to try to replicate here the forum structure of the old compuserve (which
survives somewhat even into our day). That would be to have a series of
lists joined by a common gateway and general subject. There would be a list
for informational posts about activities, resources and so on, then separate
sub-lists so to speak on, for example, political currents/trends/groups;
current "hot" issues; labor movement/economics; national liberation
struggles; socialist countries (Cuba/China/Vietnam/DPRK); etc.

    Compuserve had the great advantage that the end user determined which
message board and even which threads within a message board to download in
the given forum, with what frequency and that the user's client program
recreated somewhat the feeling of being "in" the given forum with its 10 or
20 different message boards, associated file collections, etc.

    The main thing isn't the specific technology but but the underlying
concept of trying to create a virtual space for an expanding community
rather than  promoting fragmentation and repetition.

José

Jose




----- Original Message -----
From: "Louis Proyect" <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, March 11, 2000 11:14 AM
Subject: Re: Putin Gets Jared's Vote


> > It's rather frustrating being such a young Marxist entering into a
movement
> >facing disaster in the harshest epoch of reaction for 70 years. But THIS
is
> >depressing. Jared and his followers are nothing but a symptom, of the
> >rotting of the Left that unfortunately has been a trend rather than an
> >exception, and they represent nothing better than that. And to think
there
> >are still Stalinists out there even after the system they so loved
committed
> >suicide for the capitalist afterlife... Sometimes I think, why don't I
just
> >become a used cars salesmen?
>
> Be of good cheer, my young man. This list is not the only Marxism mailing
> list in cyberspace. John Lacny created a mailing list
> (http://www.onelist.com/community/marxist) just the other day which would
> certainly not attract the likes of Jared Israel. In a post on list
> protocol, John states, "One problem is the attitude of some on the far
left
> that anyone who is against the US is an 'anti-imperialist' hero, which
> makes Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic into good guys." While I
reject
> his framing of the question, I am alert enough to understand that this
> since includes people like me, I would not subscribe. Plus I don't want to
> be on any list where the focus is on the US left, which despite the best
of
> John's intention, will probably be the case there as well as it is on Doug
> Henwood's list.
>
> I sincerely invite Owen, John or anybody else who finds Jared's posts to
be
> of such an offensive nature that they feel the need to conduct ideological
> warfare against him to unsub from this list and sign up with John's. It is
> best to encourage conversation rather than venomous attacks on one
another.
> Right now I have 242 subscribers with new people joining nearly every day.
> I suspect that when the list numbers about 400, it will have reached the
> limits for normal functioning of an email list. I would prefer that those
> of you who feel that the list is a Red-Brown swamp to leave right now
> rather than trying to change the character of the list. There are people
> waiting in line who will gladly take the seat that you have vacated.
>
> Louis Proyect
> Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org/
>

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