Fw: debates on the AN-LANG list

[Paz B. Naylor]

Dear Malcolm and Fellow AN-LANGers:

I think that debates on any matters of any AN language should be acceptable
for dissemination to the entire list so long as they do not degenerate into
personal attacks.  I can remember one such incident a few years ago when
Jeff Marck kicked out a couple of subscribers.

Regarding assumptions as to WHO would be interested in WHAT, there is no way
of knowing.  We can only assume that ALL matters pertaining to AN
linguistics would be of interest to (1) SOME people some of the time, (2)
SOME people ALL the time, (3) ALL people some of the time, (4) ALL people
ALL the time.

I have observed that interest in Tagalog and Philippine languages is very
much in the minority in AN-LANG - yet I was pleasantly surprised in the
number of responses I did get.   The overwhelming majority of AN-LANGERs are
into Indonesian and, to a certain extent, Oceanic languages.  Conversely, I
was pleasantly surprised to find interesting and valuable nuggets of
information in debates on very specific items in these languages that on the
surface seemed irrelevant to my own work.
I just hope that the numbers are not the reason why debates on
Indonesian/Oceanic languages are okay for dissemination to the entire list
while those on Tagalog/Philippine languages are not.

I have not always found all debates on AN-LANG of interest nor interesting.
No one is compelled to read them.  If it's not for you, don't read it,
delete it.  But others out there, besides the debaters themselves, may be
interested.  Let us learn to be patient and tolerant - let us keep AN-LANG
OPEN to all and for all!

All the best, Paz


Paz Buenaventura Naylor, Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor, Asian Languages and Cultures
Faculty Associate, Center for Southeast Asian Studies
Program Associate, Linguistics
The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI  48109



----- Original Message -----
From: "potet" <POTETJP at wanadoo.fr>
To: "Malcolm Ross" <Malcolm.Ross at anu.edu.au>
Cc: "Roderick Orlina" <rod_orlina at yahoo.com>; "R David Zorc"
<dzorc at bellatlantic.net>; "Paz B. Naylor" <pnaylor at umich.edu>; "John U.
Wolff" <juw1 at cornell.edu>; "Guillaume JACQUES" <xiang at free.fr>; "Frédéric
Plessis" <Frederic.Plessis at inalco.fr>; "Carl Rubino"
<webmaster at tagalog.org>; "Cena, Resty" <rcena at epcor.ca>
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2001 5:55 AM
Subject: debates on the AN-LANG list


> Dear Malcolm,
>
> If such is the rule of the list, I shall comply immediately.
>
> Yet I am surprised.
> 1) I received one message of complaint yesterday, so there are several.
When
> there is a message I am not interested in, I just erase it. This is no big
> deal. I wouldn't dream of asking the persons in the debate to stop
> debating..
> 2) How can the persons who complained be sure only Resty CENA and I are
> interested?
> 3) In such a vast field as Austronesian Languages, it is bound to happen
> that this or that question will only import for a few.
> 4) I wondered why there was little activity on the AN-LANG list as
compared
> to others. Weeks go without any message. Now I realize people are afraid
of
> expressing themselves lest they should be criticized.
>
> Thanks for the advice anyway. In Rome do as the Romans do.
>
> Best
>
> Jean-Paul G. POTET
>
> P.S. It is certainly not a coincidence that I received two messages with
> infected attachments. One supposedly from Charles Macdonald, the other
> completely anonymous. My anti-virus program detected them and I made it
> destroy them. I noticed that such attacks occur when I intervene on the
> list. Another member of the list told me in  a  private message he had
been
> infected from the list. There is no doubt now that one member of the list
is
> a hacker.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Malcolm Ross <Malcolm.Ross at anu.edu.au>
> To: <rcena at epcor.ca>; potet <POTETJP at wanadoo.fr>
> Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2001 6:12 AM
> Subject: RE: 4 operations
>
>
> > Dear Jean-Paul and Resty,
> >
> > I have had complaints from some subscribers to the AN-LANG list about
> > the discussion on "4 operations" that you have been conducting on the
> > list. They feel that this is essentially a private interchange which
> > doesn't belong on the list. I have looked at some of the recent
> > messages, and, frankly, they would be opaque to most subscribers, so
> > I would ask you to limit your interchange to yourselves and other
> > interested parties.
> >
> > Malcolm Ross
> > List owner
> > --
> > _____________________________________
> > Dr Malcolm D. Ross
> > Senior Fellow
> > Department of Linguistics
> > Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
> > Australian National University
> > CANBERRA ACT 0200
> >