Was Reading and discussing Pynchon's texts

[davemarc]

From: pynchonoid <pynchonoid at yahoo.com>
>
> You and a handful of buddies have demonstrated you can
> coordinate efforts to tie the recent Pynchon-related
> discussions (SLSL Intro, 1984 Foreword)  in knots and
> stop them altogether, I don't expect anything will
> stop you from veering off in a new direction
> altogether.
>
> Too bad about Pynchon-L, as davemarc likes to point
> out, there's no place else on the Internet devoted to
> Pynchon's works. But you knew that already.
>
Responsibility for tying up Pynchon-l discussions in knots and stopping them
altogether should also be shared by pynchonoid. I am amazed at how he
consistently blames others while seemingly giving himself a "free pass" for
his own considerable contribution to the problem. He just doesn't seem to
see how he is part of the problem.

A case in point was the recent SLSL discussion: pynchonoid was the nominal
leader of the discussion, yet even in that case he continued to swamp the
list with propaganda and flames. He has the resources to create a separate
mailing list for those who relish his particular brand of e-pamphleteering,
yet he continues to swamp hundreds of subscribers to pynchon-l with the
spam. He almost always responds to constructive criticism with
self-justifications, instead of taking the criticism to heart--which I
believe would boost his credibility on this list and make it more satisfying
for himself and the rest of the subscribers.

And of course, as I've pointed out before, pynchonoid is not the only person
responsible for feeding the flames on this list. David Morris has been
another standout recently. Yet in terms of volume and content, pynchonoid
has been the single most egregious disruptor for some time now. He has
claimed that there have always been flame wars and such here, but in my
experience it has never been this bad for this long. He seems to want
Netiquette for everyone but himself and people who happen to be on his
"side." Should he ever become more of respectful community member and less
of a wrathful proselytizer, he might well find this list a more pleasurable
and satisfying place to be.

As for what the list will discuss next, I would prefer for it to go through
a cooling-off period that might help us regain our senses, including a
positive sense
of pynchon-l identity. I'd be interested in seeing what would happen if,
say, July (or a week or even a day) became strictly Pynchon-related with
nobody posting more than once per day. Maybe that would get us out of bad
ruts and make sending and receiving mail on pynchon-l less of a nuisance and
more of a pleasure. If we can't eliminate flaming, I wonder if we could at
least try something like Flame-Free Fridays. (Or Flame Only on Fridays?) I
have my doubts.

If there is a Pale Fire discussion, I suggest that it be a "Pynchon and Pale
Fire" discussion. I also have a suggestion that I wish I'd brought up
for the 1984 Foreword: Instead of atomizing the discussion as has been done
in the past, perhaps each participant could simply contribute a 500-1000
word essay that would be posted on an agreed-upon date. After the
participants review the essays, they'd then write a follow-up essay of the
same length, to be delivered on an agreed-upon date. I think this structure
might lead to some impressive, um, erudition while diminishing the
opportunities for flame fights and redundancy. And who knows? Maybe the
essays would be book- or journal- or conference-worthy.

d.