Sept. 28, 2001, 5:33 p.m. (Message 27583)
Sorry to bore you again with list operation matters, but in the aftermath of the `censorship' discussion I should like to make the following changes to the Strathspey list policy: 1. The `ground rules' as listed on http://www.strathspey.org/mailinglist shall be augmented by a paragraph reading Gross violations of these rules, in particular the first three items, may result in posting privileges being withdrawn at the discretion of the list maintainer(s). The `first three items' in question pertain to non-SCD material, dance instructions being posted without the deviser's consent, and another rule that I shall add saying something like - Please keep your submissions reasonably courteous. Imagine you are sitting on a discussion panel in front of 500 people (which is essentially true), and pick your language accordingly. Remember that you might meet your opposite on the dance floor one day. Also remember that anything posted to the list is archived for public access, so your mom, spouse, boss, future boss, SCD teacher, ... might come across it eventually. So far this has not been one of our big problems, and in fact the type of good-natured banter that the list is up to every so often is part of its appeal (as far as I am concerned). However I would like to reserve the right to deal with people who post intentional below-the-waistline insults etc. without getting into a big debate on semantics. (I seem to remember kicking somebody off for using extremely offensive language -- and I'm not particularly squeamish -- once before, so this is basically a codification of existing practice.) I suppose people will be warned once, anyway. 2. The message that is sent out to new subscribers asking them to confirm their subscriptions shall be changed to contain the rules (quoted from the web page mentioned above, whose URL will also be given), the paragraph mentioned above and a notice that confirming the subscription means agreement to abide with the rules. This notice will also mention the possibility of reading Strathspey on the WWW without subscribing to the actual mailing list. 3. If there are no major objections to this I shall announce the change to the Strathspey list subscribers. From that moment on I shall stipulate that all posters to the Strathspey list agree with the new policy. It is important to note that, since the rules are all about posting material to the list, the restriction refers only to `posting privileges' being withdrawn (which happens to be what the list software lets me do straightforwardly -- the only way for me to keep people from subscribing to the list would be by manually approving every single subscription request, and the way AOL & co. are slinging e-mail addresses around, people could sneak in anyhow). Everybody in the world with WWW access can look at the Strathspey discussions in the archive on the Server, anyway, so a ban on the actual subscription would be a bit pointless. I should like to make it clear that I am in no way trying to set myself up as list dictator (no more than I already am, anyway). The openness of Strathspey to all sorts of opinions regarding Scottish dancing and music is its main virtue, and it is exactly this property that I am trying to preserve, by making it easier to deal with purposefully-obnoxious rulebreakers who can now be told that they (1) did agree to abide with the list rules, and (2) were made aware of the consequences of not playing along. The main purpose of the change is to outline these consequences, which in the past were decided on ad-hoc (usually the `offenders' were kicked off anyway, in the two or three cases that we had in the 8-year history of the Strathspey list). Good-faith mistakes will be dealt with as they always used to, i.e., I might send out a private message asking the sender not to do it again, or I might send out a general reminder to the list at large. The 30-day WTC ban was my idea of getting the *topic* off the list quickly without singling out individual posters, and not a decision I arrived at lightly, much less one that I was personally happy about -- however, the overwhelming agreement by people who wrote to me afterwards told me that the decision had been right as far as the readership was concerned. To repeat, as long as I have any say in this no one will be banned from posting for sending a message to Strathspey that deals with Scottish dancing or music, however outlandish its actual content -- it is the obvious non-SCD material that I'd like to get rid of. Please let me know (in private e-mail, if you like) what you think of this, in particular if you object. Anselm -- Anselm Lingnau (Frankfurt, Germany) Strathspey SCD mailing list maintainer Send mail to <xxxxxxxxxx-xxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx> for information about the list Check out http://www.strathspey.org for lots of interesting stuff about SCD!
Sept. 28, 2001, 11:54 p.m. (Message 27589, in reply to message 27583)
Good stuff, Anselm. I agree. Sylvia Miskoe
Sept. 29, 2001, 12:06 a.m. (Message 27590, in reply to message 27583)
Anselm, I concur whoeheartedly. Lee Send reply to: xxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx To: xxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx Subject: IMPORTANT: Strathspey policy Date sent: Fri, 28 Sep 2001 17:33:37 +0200 From: Anselm Lingnau <xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx> > Sorry to bore you again with list operation matters, but in the > aftermath of the `censorship' discussion I should like to make the > following changes to the Strathspey list policy: <snip>
Sept. 29, 2001, 2:14 a.m. (Message 27592, in reply to message 27590)
Donald Lee Fuell, Jr. wrote: > Anselm, > > I concur whoeheartedly. I concur who heartedly too. :) Cole Pavey