At the mountains of madness..

[Greg Montalbano]

>Actually, I think this was done about a year ago...where many, many listers 
>made their introductions?  It couldn't hurt to do it again.
>
>Tribe
>

Speaking as the person who started that thread some time ago ("Lurkers,
Awake!"), I would concur, with the following gentle reminders:

1) Self-moderating is the preferred mode for us. 
 As Andrew requested, keep it interesting, relevant (in whatever way
possible), and remember that you're standing up in front of some very
erudite people.   That last should not be taken in such a way that it keeps
you from posting, but to motivate you to put some thought and WORK into the
posts;  and to not take it personally when some or all of the list comes
down on you for sloppy work (my first royal reaming by Mr Dinn was a couple
of years ago, and is still fresh in my mind -- but that which does not kill
us can {maybe} help make us better writers).

...which leads to 

2)  Take it off the list.  
The current post-it I have hanging over my terminal is a quote from one of
K.S. Robinson's MARS books:  "Knowledge by experience is not always
translatable into discursive knowledge - which is a shame, but there it
is."  Not only can it be difficult to get a certain point across the way it
was meant, it is (due to the wildly varying experiences of those assembled
here) very easy to post something that will be misinterpreted (with extreme
prejudice) by someone on the list.  Before igniting a pointless &
unnecessary flame war, ASK the person who wrote it for clarification  --
OFF the list.  If the resulting differences cannot be thus resolved, and if
upon reflection you determine that the debate would have some interest to
the rest of us, give it a try -- but be prepared for some reactions that
you may not have expected.

And finally,

3)  Don't forget the eyebrows.
Frank Zappa, discussing his process of composing, rehearsing and finalizing
pieces of music for his various bands, referred to the finishing task of
adding nuance and expression to the work as "putting the eyebrows on it."
With all of us reading your (no doubt) heartfelt words on these grey-white
screens in the world's most boring typeface, it's easy to miss such things
as irony -- unless you, as a writer, make it plain.  This list is (as
several folks have recently mentioned) a really interesting and
unpredicatable form of group communication, but it can't work as well as it
could if you try to approach it as conversation -- it is WRITING, first an
foremost.

Peace, Love, and Murder,

~G~

"They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
 For trying to change the System from within.
 I'm coming now, I'm coming to reward Them;
 First, we take Manhatten--  
 Then we take Berlin."
        --Leonard Cohen