Sounder mailing list etiquette and future direction

[Liam Proven]

On Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 11:33 PM, Robert Holtzman <holtzm at cox.net> wrote:
> On Fri, Dec 04, 2009 at 05:00:56PM +0000, Liam Proven wrote:
>>
>> Damned if I know what you hope to achieve, then.
>>
>> Part of the nature of humour, free-ranging discussion and learning is
>> sarcasm, irony & a modicum of gentle mockery. Prevent me from using
>> these techniques, you are restricting my freedom of expression. When I
>> am restricted from expressing myself, in effect, I consider myself to
>> be censored, and I am not tolerating that.
>>
>> Basically, to me, all these comments about "people shouldn't need to
>> be thick-skinned" and so on sound like some idealistic and impossible
>> desire to create some lovey-huggy
>> let's-everyone-be-nice-to-everyone-else-all-the-time-OR-ELSE sort of
>> atmosphere, like some kind of demented kindergarten class with a
>> far-too-strict leader.
>>
>> Not only am I not willing to play along with these rules, but frankly,
>> I find such insipid and characterless discussions - something I find a
>> particularly American sort of tone in some online fora - to be
>> hatefully and intolerably dull.
>>
>> In other words, by attempting to *force* everyone to "play nice" or be
>> banned, the only result is to kill open discussion and debate.
>>
>> I'm not saying there should be no guidelines at all. I know - although
>> have absolutely zero sympathy - that some people find certain
>> swear-words or explicit mention of sex violently offensive. I agree,
>> reluctantly, that this should not be allowed. (But then, in Scott
>> Adam's blog today, the comment board auto-censored the word "shaved",
>> which is manifestly ridiculous.)
>>
>> OTOH, the chap here that kept issuing some kind of muslim dedication -
>> that is violently offensive to me, as a hardcore atheist. I am not
>> posting any message dedicated to anyone's  god, nor am I even replying
>> to one. I myself would move for a total ban on all mention of any
>> religion, including those to me rather hateful sigs proclaiming that
>> people espouse any particular variety of primitive superstition.
>>
>> But attempting to moderate out, or enforce rules to get rid of, banter
>> and joshing, and you're castrating a community and a tone.
>>
>> You may not kill it, but you will very probably turn it into somewhere
>> I have no interest in reading or participating in.
>
> Damn, you beat me to it. I was going to post something very similar.
> These people want the same bland white bread atmosphere that now exists
> in our (US) schools. I, for one, get tired of being told I must walk on
> egg shells because of someone's overly delicate sensibilities.

I am very glad to read that, because I was really starting to feel
that I was being one single awkward curmudgeonly old pain-in-the-neck.
(Which, arguably, I am, at least sometimes, but still...)

Thanks.

-- 
Liam Proven • Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/liamproven
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