>In all candor, I don't remember the details, beyond that Bernstein, I think
>assisted by Joel Kuszai, was list owner and manager (pardon the terminology
>if I've got it wrong) at the beginning of the fracas but withdrew and was
>replaced by a triumvirate with a very different management style. Charles
>had been almost totally hands-off, trusting that a rough democracy without
>restrictions would take care of itself. The general tone was set by what I
>took to be graduate students who had had too little sleep and too much
>coffee--manic and fractious in the extreme. Then it got even nastier, with
>a lot of ad homina flying about. But one had always needed to shout to be
>heard. The new management sought to restore calm by filtering all messages.
>My memory is very vague as to the details, but I think some of the messages
>for which people were bounced actually never got through censorship to the
>list at large.
>
>Active members of the list were about half langpo, mostly very young (the
>well-known langpoers rarely contributed), about half not, with various
>degrees of sympathy for it or lack thereof.
>
>It was also overwhelmingly American male, which may have been part of the
>problem. The knives were always out, at the best of times.
>
>It was my first list, and I was more than willing to share in the
>roughhouse. It was a needed relief--I'm a New Yorker, and San Diego, where
>I live now, is excessively bland. But I got very tired of it, and there was
>more than enough turmoil in my off-line life. Britpo and poetryetc have
>been a pleasure in comparison. I also value some of those who were bounced,
>altho I often disagree with them, and was happy to find them here.
>
>If there's any interest maybe those with better memories could give their
>versions of events.
>
As one of the sort of outsiders, Mark, I'd say that's a fair overview. I
don't remember it all that well now, but there were aspects of the list I
really enjoyed & I met some fine people there (you, for one). I didn't get
back on board afterwards, especially as poetryetc came along... there were
some really interesting arguments, though, just like here...
Doug
Douglas Barbour
Department of English
University of Alberta
Edmonton Alberta Canada T6G 2E5
(h) [780] 436 3320 (b) [780] 492 0521
http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/dbhome.htm
Take away my wisdom and my categories!
Phyllis Webb
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