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Re: List etiquette

        I'm sorry Barry, but as a teacher of history and government, perhaps
I see things a bit differently.  I am a 100% advocate of democracy and all
that it means.  The one protection citizens can possess from tyranny of any
sort is information.  Free speech is the basic tenet of this philosophy.  I
truly believe in allowing all to have their voice.  Certainly, this means
some wandering off topic, some rudeness, some disagreement, even hostility
on occasion.  But nothing good can come from trying to force things to
follow the original intentions of whoever places things in motion.
Deviations and bottlenecks are inevitable and necessary if democracy is to
succeed.  I hope the AKA is truly a democratic organization.  If so, then
the inevitability of evolution within the organization must be recognized.
The way things began will HAVE to change.  It cannot, and should not, be
stopped.  Outrageous  misconduct need not be tolerated, certainly.  But the
expression of divergent, and even antithetical ideas should be encouraged by
all.  I am not afraid of what others may voice in my presence.  I most fear
what those I cannot see and hear are doing.  I would rather read the rants
of outright nuts on occasion, than censor dissent or certain topic areas,
and have the ranters go underground.  The AKA is a living organization made
up of hobbyists af many viewpoints.  We do not all have to agree with the
direction of their arguments, but I honestly think it is incumbent upon all
of us to recognize their right to voice them, even if some of us have come
to find them tiresome.  They still possess the same rights we hold.  We
should present effective counter arguments rather than consider shutting
them off.  If the list has been rather political recently (I have certainly
played a role there), then so be it.  I would expect this to wane
eventually, and other topics to dominate.  Perhaps members should actively
post mechanical messages rather than political in their own free
expressions.  Overall, I consider the recent discussion one of the most
interesting and most important in the year I've been subscribing, even
though there are many who differ in viewpoint with me.  I appreciate all
their criticisms and concerns.  I would never advocate telling them, "OK,
we've heard enough from you about that now."  We would all do well remember
that while democracy means we all can have our say, we do not necessarily
get our way.

Jay Moylan

----- Original Message -----
From: "Barry J. Cooper" <bjc3 at cornell_edu>
To: <killietalk at aka_org>
Sent: Monday, April 30, 2001 6:59 PM
Subject: List etiquette


> Folks,
>
> For the record the killietalk list was set up to discuss all issues
> relating to the killie fixation (ie. hobby). That includes matters
> relating to the fish and their keeping, but discussion of the AKA and
> its programs is also allowed. After all, the AKA promotes the hobby.
> It was not set up to be mostly a political forum.
>
> Killitalk is lightly moderated. I will remove people for rude or
> obnoxious behavior, or for blatant use of the list for commercial
> purposes. I always request that people stop that behavior first, and
> I've only once had to remove someone. I have mildly upset a couple of
> people when I have requested that they change something about what
> they are posting, but I put that down to the difficulty of finding a
> tactful way to make my request.
>
> Occasionally this list wanders from what I, at least, would like it
> to be. About killies, for killie keepers. The best way to control
> that is for everyone to ask themselves, "is this message useful"?
> Sometimes I start to write a reply to a message, then find myself
> thinking and saying "Naahhh". If we all think a little first I
> believe we can bring some focus back to the list. I think the
> off-topic traffic has been excessive and would like to see some
> self-regulation. Help me with this!
>
> Let's not now start a thread about stopping threads :o)
>
> Barry
> ---------------
> See http://www.aka.org/AKA/subkillietalk.html to unsubscribe
>

---------------
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