Re: List Moderation

[Dennis R Redmond <dredmond@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, 23 May 1999, ken wrote:

> One cannot determine, in advance, which forms of expression
> are violent.

That's not the point. The point is that when people get out of hand and
start insulting people for no reason, they need to be reined in, and if
they aren't reined in (warned, then warned again, then suspended, and then
finally expelled if they can't control themselves), it just destroys a
list. OK, if you want to argue that Ralph's outbursts are random acts of
surrealism of something, that may make sense on a Surrealism list. But
we're trying to talk about some of the most complicated, mind-bending and
weighty concepts of the 20th century here. This kind of nonsense wouldn't
be tolerated in a seminar, a public meeting, or any other kind of public
interaction, so why should a listserv be any different? To paraphrase the
great literary critic Northrop Frye, a listserv (just like the mind) needs
to be open, but open at both ends: receptive to new ideas and approaches,
but also willing to let bad ideas or insufficient or inappropriate things
go.

-- Dennis