Jules-L (fwd)

[Gary L. Thompson]

Sent this yesterday, but it didn't make it onto the P-list for some 
reason. I was going to let it sit, but it appears the discussion is not 
quite dead.

Gary Thompson

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997 08:28:45 -0400 (EDT)
From: Gary L. Thompson <glt at tardis.svsu.edu>
To: Chris Sweet <csweet at gte.net>
Cc: Bruce Appelbaum <Bruce_Appelbaum at chemsystems.com>, pynchon-l at waste.org,
    Todd Meigs <tmeigs at csllp.com>
Subject: Re: Jules-L

My schedule gets me onto this list in the morning, so this is most of a 
day behind you guys. Sorry for the return to what must be an old subject.

On Thu, 17 Jul 1997, Chris Sweet wrote [about setting up a Jules list]:

> If you want to subscribe to the Jules list, access
> http://www.coollist.com
> and in the subscribe place, for list name type in jules and then your
> email under
> the email place. If you want to send a message to the list...after you
> have subscribed
> send it to jules at coollist.com
> 
> tired of clicking the delete key and looking forward to reading more
> MDMD
> 
> -chris
> 

So is this a vote? Like setting up a white-power music discussion group? 
Here's mine . . . 

I'm going to agree with everyone . . . :) Those who want to take these 
discussions elsewhere should do so--I think one of my earliest P-list 
posts was to this effect.

But I also agree that Jules' presence on this list is welcome, as is 
everyone's. That's the nature of this list, that it's open to all. If the 
list administrator wants to screen anyone out, that's technically 
possible, but a violation of everything I thought this group represented. 
(I certainly would unsubscribe if that were part of the FAQ.)

And I agree that Jules sometimes promotes himself. I resent about 1/4 of 
his posts, and tolerate or enjoy 3/4. That's a better average than my 
posts, I imagine.

And I believe that Doug and Peter and Peter and anyone else can raise 
issues about his and others' veracity. Not only on free speech 
grounds--one of the 
salient features of this medium is that there's very little institutional 
grounding for what is written here. If you read the _NY Times_ or watch 
_CNN_ or listen to _NPR_, you have whatever institutional authority those 
organizations offer--and readers of _GR_ know full well that that is 
ambiguous at best. If I write something here, it's just words--putting 
SVSU at the bottom of the page could be fiction for all anyone knows. I 
could put Harvard or Oxford or the Sore Bun and it would have the same 
status. (On the other hand, since it's SVSU, you have to know it's 
truth--no one's fiction has that pedestrian a quality.) So are we going 
to set up a truth in representation list?

Jules, for reasons best known to himself, wants to be a presence on 
_this_ list, not his own. More power to him. I vote he stays, that Doug 
continue to remind us about the distinction between corroborated and 
uncorroborate assertion, that Peter fish for inconsistencies, and that 
Meg and many more say "Enough, already!" And I look forward to seeing 
some flames from the really talented guys--too much polite discussion, 
not enough invective!

All we have here is words. We all get irritated by off-topic 
postings, but that's the cost of having an open list. And we announce our 
irritation, and that further irritates people. Best to make liberal use 
of the delete key, post on _MD_ and topics you prefer, and ride it out.


Gary Thompson
Saginaw Valley State University
University Center, MI  48710
517-790-4308
fax 517-790-7638

"No matter how cynical I get, I just can't keep up."
				--Lily Tomlin