SEELANGS Administrivia - (was RE: SEELANGS Digest - Ukraine - The other side of the story)

[Alex Rudd]

On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 4:53 AM, Susan Welsh <welsh_business at verizon.net> wrote:
> SEELANGS is allowing a vast number of political postings, on subjects
> ranging from Ukraine to Pussy Riot, in apparent violation of its guidelines:
> "Please note that the discussion of discrete political matters is not
> welcome on SEELANGS. However, as political and other concerns have
> influenced Slavic Languages and Literatures, if posting on such a theme, use
> common sense and recognize when your contribution has ceased to be about
> aiding linguistic comprehension, and has begun to be purely political."

Dear SEELANGS Members,

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: SEELANGS, generally
speaking, is not a moderated list.  As far as I know, everyone
subscribed to this list can comprehend the English language well
enough to read and understand the Welcome message that he or she
received upon subscribing (or as amended and posted here or on the
website).  The list guidelines are in the Welcome message.  I expect
that list members will read those guidelines and conform their
submissions to them.  I believe that most of you expect the same thing
from your fellow subscribers.

To assert that "SEELANGS is allowing" posting behavior that runs afoul
of one or more of the list guidelines mischaracterizes reality.  The
reality is, I administer the SEELANGS list as a volunteer in my free
time.  I don't have a lot of free time.  I try to keep up, but I
usually don't have the time to read every message that gets posted.
When I do read a message that violates either the letter or the spirit
of the list guidelines, I assess how, or even whether, to respond to
that poster off-list.  Sometimes it's a relatively minor thing, such
as quoting an entire Digest message in the body of a reply on the list
(such as you did this morning, Ms. Welsh), and sometimes it's a more
serious violation that concerns me because of its potential to
inflame.  Sometimes I respond by doing nothing, and perhaps at some
point posting a general gentle reminder to the entire list.  Sometimes
I choose to moderate the submissions of the list member who has
clearly demonstrated that he or she knows the rules, yet chooses
nonetheless to violate them, especially where those violations are
likely to result in a disruption on the list or in the exodus of
subscribers.  In other words, I do not moderate your submissions to
this list... until and unless you give me a reason to moderate your
submissions to this list.  (There is no double standard; if there's a
problem with a particular post, it just means that the list member who
posted that message chose to disregard the list guidelines and that I
haven't yet had a chance to address the issue.)

My authority for doing that is right there at the very top of the
Welcome message:

----- Begin -----

SEELANGS exists to facilitate discussion of topics of interest
to teachers and students of Russian and other Slavic and East
European languages and literatures.  Use the list in furtherance
of that general goal.  But please, do not treat SEELANGS or its
members with disrespect.  Profanity is not welcome, nor is
language which demeans or belittles other people or groups of
people.  It is further expected that list members will conduct
themselves in a mature and polite manner towards fellow list
members.  "Flames" will not be tolerated.  The list owner reserves
the right to take any action he feels appropriate to ensure the
smooth operation of the list.

----- End -----

> I think it's time either to stop these "солидарность с Майдном" postings, or
> to also post the other side of the story. We are talking about the
> possibility of World War III here, after all.

It's time to stop all of them.  You may talk about the possibility of
World War III elsewhere.  Discussing that is not what brought people
to this list.  It's not why this list exists.  Please go back and read
the Welcome message for more information.  If you've already deleted
your copy, you can grab another one at any time by sending the
command:

GET SEELANGS WELCOME

in the body of e-mail to:  LISTSERV at LISTSERV.UA.EDU

You can also read it on the website (URL is below).

Thank you all for your understanding and future cooperation.  Please
direct replies about any of the above to me directly, off-list.

- Alex, list owner of SEELANGS
--
Alex Rudd
List owner e-mail: seelangs-request at listserv.ua.edu
Personal e-mail: Alex.Rudd at gmail.com
http://seelangs.wix.com/seelangs
Any opinion expressed above is not necessarily shared by my employers.

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