Printmaker wrote:
"To my mind leaving the archives public is tantamount to inviting a complete
stranger to sit in on a private conversation and tape it - then publish it
in the Times or equivalent. Lurkers are bad enough, but inviting outsiders
to read what is meant for members only is a gross breach of privacy. IMHO
And as for dropping in on other archives - do you read private diaries too?"
While they are not the public square, e-mail discussion lists, including
this one, are not private salons either. We let you in, after all. And they
let me in, with all my contrary opinions. As for "lurkers," so called, so
what? They have just as much right to be here & be silent as any of us have
to blab our opinions far & wide. Mark Twain said that it's far better to
keep your mouth shut & let people assume you're an idiot than to open your
mouth & prove it. Your second comment displays a breathtaking failure of
logic--if the archives of a particular list are public, then reading them
(as I do on several lists I'm not subscribed to), bears no resemblance to
reading a private diary. IMHO.
jd
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Joseph Duemer
School of Liberal Arts, 5750
Clarkson University
Potsdam NY 13699
315.268.3967
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