on 7/10/01 12:12 PM, [log in to unmask] at [log in to unmask] wrote:

> Actually the Michael Lind flap blew thru NewPoetry quickly
> a week or so ago....and the posts were much the same
> (even among our Formalist members): negative & dismissive
> of his slipshod arguments.
> Finnegan

    Yes, I went and read the whole NewPoetry discussion after Anastasios had
posted excerpts from it here. It was so impressively thorough and
knowledgeable that I joined the list on the strength of it, in fact.

We had a good discussion, too, but I think it's run its course and maybe we
should move on now before it gets too ensnared in anyone's personal agendas.
Attempts to use the list for such purposes are anathema to me, and I know I
tend to be overly sensitive to any sign of that, so please pardon me if I've
seemed censorious. Sometimes the responsibility for list management, even
though shared with Alison and Randolph in JK's absence, weighs too heavily
on me and I forget how good Poetryetc is at self-policing.

The only other thing I want to say relative to Kent and the grudge he
appears to bear me for removing him from the list last month has to do with
David Hess, whose name Kent has raised and muddied and who is not here to
defend himself. Just prior to my taking the extreme measure of closing the
list to new subscribers for a week, Kent had unsubscribed from Poetryetc
under both of his Hotmail addresses and with some dramatic flourishes. When
I then checked the membership list in response to his allegations of
pseudonymous postings in his name and/or attacking him, I discovered that
he'd remained on the list under a third e-address. At that point, someone
purporting to be David Hess then subscribed under a new Hotmail address and
sent a post to Poetryetc attacking Kent. David Hess, having already been
removed from the list by Alison, knew nothing of that post until I contacted
him back-channel about it, and he immediately asked me to remove that
subscriber who was using his name, which I did, along with removing Kent
under his third address. Both Kent and David Hess were automatically sent
notifications of their removal by JISCMAIL, but, as with the pseudonymous
post sent to the list under his name, David Hess was unaware of his second
removal until I advised him of it back-channel.

That's when--and why--I shut down the list--after being unable to reach
Alison and Chris (and at the urging of several longtime listees who were
online at the time--about 4:00am, as I recall). It's now open again, but
with an "owner approval" setting, and I've been routinely vetting any
request to subscribe that's come from a pseudonymous e-mailer. Those folks
have been wholly cooperative and understanding about the need to verify
their Ids, and no one's request to subscribe has been refused, including
Kent's.

Alison suggested yesterday that we draft and post an ethics statement/policy
for the list, and I'm all for it, so we'll be working on that with Randolph
and will post something soon, hopefully.

With best regards to all--Candice