Moderation Guidelines

["L Spencer" <L.SPENCER@xxxxxxxxxx>]

The simplest guideline which each of us - on this list or any other -
should try to follow is to attack ideas and arguments rather than
people.

I am not one of those on this list who was made a target for
personal abuse. I hope anyone who was realises that there are many of
us around interested in the issues rather than the (somewhat
anonymous) electronic personalities.

Ralph Dumain put forward views that needed thinking about.
The degree of personal invective he levelled against
those who disagreed with him was totally uncalled for.
But it is wholly inappropriate for my long-time friend Dr van Gelder
to invoke the name of Dr Goebbels and to start mudslinging in a not
dissimilar vein.

I dont have an answer to the problem.

This is a plea for moderation. Not censorship. And not only of a
technical/technological kind. Let us use this great tool for
investigation and debate together and be (sometimes) grateful for the
fact that it spares us the necessity of face-to-face confrontation.

Lloyd Spencer
School of Media