Dear friends,
I've said before that I moderate another list, nothing to do with
nature or recording, one dedicated to a controversy that people feel
passionately about on both sides.
http://lists.topica.com/lists/waldorf-critics/
To keep it from degrading into name-calling, I enforce two rules: 1)
stay on topic, and 2) no ad hominem arguments. No. 2 is the one that
I have to keep on top of all the time. Sometimes people have a really
hard time arguing about anything without talking about the people. I
give three warnings: "address your arguments to the topics, not your
fellow subscribers," then suspend them for a week if they can't
comply. After three suspensions they're banned.
Some examples here recently:
MARTYN:
"The attitude is basically 'I don't give a crap'" (You may have been
talking about people not present, but some here might take that
personally).
SCOTT CONNOP:
"There are few things more frustrating in the world than educated people
resisting education." (Again, could be construed to be about present company.)
I think if we keep "no ad hominems" in mind here, we can negotiate
about the playback issue without the board going down in flames. It's
valuable to have a civil discussion of things we disagree about. It
sharpens our wits.
Sincerely, Dan Dugan
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
|