If the Poetryetc rules of behavior that Candice posted recently were
in place before the dispute with Kent began, then I guess the managers
have every right to take the action they took, since Kent on occasion
did verbally abuse certain individuals including list-managers, and
did seem to be on the verge of sending possibly copyrighted material
to poetryetc despite the managers warnings about that.
Moreover, I don't have the responsibility for managing the list, and I
think it's important to remember that such managing is not always an
easy chore.
That being said, however, I do think it's a serious step to single someone
out for special status. I think Kent should have been warned specifically
beforehand and should have been given the opportunity to take specific
steps to change his behavior before being placed under review. His
dismissal from the list might have been avoided if his had been asked
directly & specifically to desist from personal insults and to delay
cross-posting until the copyright issue was resolved and permission
granted by the list-managers. As I understand it - or at least
as I remember reading the posts - Kent WAS asked not to cross-post
the items in question, until the issue was resolved; and Kent,
instead of agreeing to abide by that, said in so many words that
copyright was a non-issue in this case and that he was going to
go ahead & post them. This was treading on the edge on Kent's
part, but even so, I think the options &/or warnings should have
been discussed more clearly and directly with Kent before
summarily placing him in a special status.
I think the underlying rule of these discussion lists - underlying all
the more particular rules - is that each person on it be treated with
respect. Despite his sometimes-manipulative bad-boy behavior, I do
think Kent was entitled to a clear warning and a chance to modify his
behavior before being on the review status. Perhaps the list-managers
believe he was given that chance: I don't know, I haven't seen all the
back-channeling or remember each one of the front-channel posts. But
my reading at this point does not show that specific warning/opportunity
being given. And because of that, sadly, I have to agree for the most
part with David Hickman. I'm sorry to drag out this debate, and I
realize the list would like to go back to discussing poetry, so
this is my last post on this subject. In the meantime I will
have to seriously consider unsubscribing from Poetryetc.
Henry
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