[OPE-L:4539] Re: LIST CULTURE AND FLAMES

Gerald Lev (glevy@pratt.edu)
Wed, 26 Mar 1997 03:55:57 -0800 (PST)

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Ajit wrote in [OPE-L:4535]:

> I decided to forward this letter to the list because it belongs here.

No, it did not belong here. Had I wanted it to be here, I would have sent
it to the list. I sent you a private message since other listmemnbers have
encouraged me in the past to raise questions such as this off-list.

> First
> of all, I did not get the message to follow the "high road", and if I had
> gotten it I would have done the same as others did.

I sent you that message on 3/17.

> Secondly, this is the
> same man who put out a letter on the list saying that there is 1 man
> (obvious reference to me) on the list who has tendency to react aggresively,
> and Andrew should watch out for that. At this time I had not said a
> word on the list my dear fellows!

What is the OPE-L number of that post? Do others recall it?

> Jerry, you are a control freak. And that's why you
> are one of the most unpopular man on all the lists you are on. I'm glad that
> you don't have any real power in life. Otherwise, you would have made many
> people absolutely miserable. I have no patience for your insults and anal
> retentive lecturing anymore. So feel free to lock me out of your little
> house of terror you are running here, where your children don't mind being
> continusly told to keep their shoes polished and tie ironed. The fact of the
> matter is that you really have nothing substantive to say on substantial
> issues, so you keep yourself busy with whose shoes are polished and whose
> are not all the time. So lock me out, because that's the only way you can
> save yourself and your theoretical friends from my criticisms-- it's making
> you too nervous isn't it? Disgustingly, ajit sinha

Ajit -- as I explained to you before joining (and as I explain to all new
listmembers when joining) we have a list policy against flames, i.e. a
zero tolerance of flames.

Unlike other lists, we are a collaborative project. The success of that
project has always relied on the ability of listmembers to treat each
other in good faith and in a respectful and comradely manner. We have been
very successful in adhering to that principle and flames have been *very*
rare and usually followed by a prompt [and unsolicited] apology to the
list.

By any standards, the above was a flame. Moreover, it was a violation of
confidence, an act of bad faith, and personally insulting.

I have never unsubscribed someone from this list unless that person
requested that I do so. No member has ever been suspended from this list
in the past. I am proud of that, am proud of the way we have treated each
other in the past, and sincerely hope that it will never get to the point
where any member is involuntarily unsubbed or suspended.

I will not allow this list to become the site of endless rounds of flames
so common on other Net lists and, if push comes to shove and others don't
agree, then I will resign as coordinator/moderator before agreeing to let
that happen.

In solidarity, Jerry