SEELANGS Administrivia - PLEASE READ (all the way to the end of this post)

[Alex Rudd]

Dear SEELANGers,

Numerous subscribers of this list have written me privately to request,
nay, to beg, that I impose forthwith a new rule outlawing discussion on
SEELANGS of any and all topics save two: abortion and gun control.
 Everybody okay with that?

Yes, I am joking.

I will keep this relatively brief.  As list owner, part of what I'm charged
with doing is ensuring the smooth operation of this list.  When the
discourse devolves as it has recently, and when subscribers begin to
unsubscribe in any significant number as they have recently, the list is
not operating smoothly.

So what's the problem?  I suspect that many of you would define it
differently from one another.  From my point of view (for whatever that's
worth), there's actually more than one problem here.  The most glaring
issue is an apparent paucity of sensitivity for the feelings and
sensibilities of fellow list members.  Entire populations of regions,
countries, peoples or cultures might be offended by a particular
appellation or preposition or by whether or not a certain article is
present in a name, but all of those people don't subscribe to SEELANGS.
 Some accidental representatives of many populations do subscribe, though,
so on this list, the abstract can quickly become real.  It's also important
to remember that, although common interests bring us together here, we are
as diverse a bunch of people as might be found in any large city.  We bring
differing backgrounds, experiences and world views.  That is a strength of
SEELANGS, not a weakness.  It becomes a weakness only when we lose sight of
that fact, or intentionally ignore it, and civility becomes the victim.

Please keep it civil.  Please be respectful.  Sometimes that means saying
nothing at all or taking it off-list.  Life will go on.

A corollary to that problem is a more minor one, but is the one that might
have contributed to sparking this most recent conflagration in the first
place.  Specifically, it's what can happen when list members respond to a
post by contributing something only tangentially-related, or unrelated, to
the original thread.  Often, there's nothing wrong with that, because a
new, equally-interesting and deserving thread is born.  Sometimes, though,
the opposite is true, and such meanderings invite more of the same.

If there's a narrow question asked or topic raised, my suggestion would be
to keep that thread focused on that topic.  If you want to take it
somewhere else, then start a new thread, or at least change the Subject:
line so LISTSERV treats it as a new thread.

Here's another problem, which seems to get exacerbated every time there's a
flurry of activity like we've seen over the past few days.  List members
forget the most basic of guidelines.  Here, for the umpteenth time,
straight from the SEELANGS Welcome message sent to all new subscribers, is
the most-ignored list guideline:

---------- Begin ----------

***** QUOTING TEXT FROM ORIGINAL MESSAGES *****

Because all posts to SEELANGS are archived, and because disk
space is a finite resource, list members are asked to pay
close attention when they reply to messages on the list and
quote text.  Including portions of original messages is fine,
as long as it’s done to provide context for the reader and
is done selectively.  However, quoting entire original
messages within the body of replies, when the original messages
are more than just a few lines, is prohibited.  Not only
does it fill up our disk space with extraneous text, but
those list members receiving SEELANGS in DIGEST format are
forced to read through the same messages three and four
times.

---------- End ----------

Please stop ignoring that guideline.  It really takes only a few moments to
comply and delete extraneous text before you Send.

As a quick reminder, the entirety of the SEELANGS Welcome message, with all
our guidelines, is available to you on the SEELANGS Web interface (the
address for which is at the bottom of every message posted to the list and
is also in my signature block, below).  If you've lost the copy that was
sent to you and find yourself desiring another, you can have LISTSERV
e-mail you another by sending the command:

GET SEELANGS WELCOME

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

Finally, there is apparently a sense that SEELANGS is currently spiraling
out of control (articulated in that way by one of the multiple list members
who really did write me privately about the "Ukraine/The Ukraine" thread).
 Unusually, there have actually been on-list requests for a list moderator.
 Well, in the 21 years that I've been administering the SEELANGS list, it's
never been fully moderated.  For the most part, there hasn't been an
overarching need.

But, how about we give it a try?  Just for a week, say, until 11:59 PM UTC
on 30 June 2014.  At a minimum, the sense of spiraling out of control
should come to an abrupt halt.

So here's how this will work: Every message submitted to the list address
will be forwarded to me for my approval.  If I approve it, it will be
distributed on the list.  The criteria I will use in determining whether to
approve a message for distribution are the ones you might expect.  To wit,
you should not expect to see a message approved:
  - if it has little or nothing to do with the purpose of this list;
  - if it contains rude, demeaning or belittling language directed at, or
about, anyone;
  - if a reasonable subscriber might tend to consider it disrespectful or
inappropriate; and/or
  - if it runs afoul of any of the list guidelines, as set forth in the
Welcome message.

Again, we're just going to try this for a week.  Because this should be a
constructive exercise and not in any way punitive, if you should submit a
message that I deem unsuitable for distribution as is, I will do my best to
write to you directly and promptly to explain why.  If the issue is
something easily correctable, such as you've quoted too much original text
in the body of a reply, then you'll be free to correct it and resubmit.  If
you submit a message and don't see it appear on the list, double check by
searching the archives (info about that in the Welcome message).  If a
message was archived, that means it was distributed.  If you submit a
message and don't see it appear on the list and it hasn't been archived,
please be patient.  Perhaps I just haven't seen it yet.  (I live in
California and I do tend to sleep a few hours every night.)  After I've
seen it, I'll either approve it or write you privately about it.

Thank you for your understanding, future cooperation, and continued
participation on the SEELANGS 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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