No tolerance of flames and bullying on this list

[Robert Englebretson]

Dear Funkneters,

Personal attacks or harassment of other list members are an abuse of 
power.  They violate netiquette and the anti-flame policy of this list.  
They also run counter to the ideals of respect, civility, and academic 
dialogue promoted by the university which hosts our list.  Anyone who 
flames or bullies another list member (regardless of the flamer's 
seniority or rank or prior contributions to the field) will summarily be 
put on permanent moderation--meaning that all of this person's posts 
will be quarantined until a list moderator has time to get around to 
reading and approving them.  Such is the case now with Tom Givon because 
of his posting from earlier this morning.

I am also putting the list on temporary emergency status for the 
foreseeable future.  This means that the list admin has to approve all 
messages before they post.  This is a shame, since Funknet has always 
been an open list, relying on the decency of its nearly 1,100 members to 
police themselves and not engage in flaming or bullying.

The purpose of Funknet is to serve as an open forum for discussing *all* 
types of issues in functional linguistics, broadly defined.  Beyond 
that, the list is not limited to any particular agenda(s) or paradigm, 
nor is it restricted to having to be in agreement with any particular 
linguist's point-of-view.  All postings that approach language and 
linguistics from a functional perspective (broadly construed) are welcome.

Please feel free to write me off list if you have any questions, or any 
concerns about the administration of this list not addressed in this 
message.

Best,
--Robert Englebretson,  Funknet list admin