I _do_ "take the latest excesses" as not only indicative of
what's "right with the list," but also of what's righting to
the list--the dynamics of which have always seemed to me to
include a self-correcting impulse. Yesterday's hooly struck
me as a much-needed tension-breaker, some tensions to do with
Jakes' not too winning way of introducing himself here having
begun to get rather ugly. (I was also glad to learn some new
vocabulary, as others have likewise confessed.)

I also agree totally with the line Trevor's taken in a series
of posts today, and something Elizabeth said about discussion
lists needing to be nurtured really hit home with me because it
applies to all three poetry lists I'm on. There are subscribers
to all three who elect to lurk for their own reasons, and I have
no more idea why someone who's never posted anything (such as
those who tried to get us to unsubscribe them yesterday) leaves
a list than why they signed on in the first place. Unless Peter
or Geraldine (or anyone else inclined to attribute these goings
to one or another feature of the current list discussions) know
something about those reasons that we don't, I can't see what
grounds s/he has for believing the cause to be obscenity, much
less an offended Islamicism on the part of somebody with a
surname of possibly Muslim origins (a real stretch, that one!).

There are also subscribers to all three lists I'm on who use those
venues almost exclusively for self-promotion of various sorts--and
they're no more nurturing of list culture than the silent lurkers--
while those who do keep these lists lively and enriching are the
people I think of as their citizens, such as Pol--er, Alison--who's
on the same three lists I am and contributes to their quality of
life for me. So, while I can't care if people whose first post to
Britpo is "unsubscribe" leave the list, I'm very sorry to see both
Geraldine and Henry go (if they do) and have told them so b-c. But
they have their reasons, which I understand better for having had
a b-c conversation with each, and of course they must do as each
deems best for her/himself. But I hope they'll stay and continue
to be the good citizens and nurturers of Britpo that they've long
been (for me anyway).

The only post that surprised me more than Peter's today was
David Kennedy's, in which he objected to David Bircumshaw's
characterization of the list atmosphere--or maybe it was that
rather boozy, floozy ambience we created yesterday that bothered
David K. But I must say that it was more fun for me than a barrel
of Christmas cracker jokes, and if Britpo's atmosphere became that
cracker-barreled on a permanent basis, I'd have to sign myself

Effin' Orf



>I would rather take the latest
>excesses as a symptom of what's right with the list.
>
>I sound like Pollyanna.  Now, _that_ could be offensive.
>
>Cheers
>
>Alison