Candice,
thank you for your thoughtful responses to Henry's, Mark's & Jim's posts. I
also want to say at the very start that I am sorry to see Henry leave the
list. Henry is a fine poet & an incisive critic & I will miss his
contributions. But I am staying. Henry is right: there was plenty of anger
to go around in the days leading up to Kent's suspension from the list & I
was as angry as anyone, but since I was not privy to the back-channel
interactions between Kent & the list managers, I will withhold judgment on
their decision to remove Kent from the list. In fact, his front-channel
behavior was sufficient to, at least, put him on review status. I simply do
not have sufficient information to arrive at an independent conclusion.
Having said that, let me add immediately that I have much greater faith in
Poetryetc's managers' commitment to fairness than I do to Kent Johnson's.
But all that is by way of prologue.
I think the archives should be public, if not immediately, then before long.
I can understand why others would disagree, but I think daylight & fresh air
are the best defense against stinkers. (I've just been washing my dogs'
bedding & hanging it out in the sun--this heatwave has to be good for
something.) I also think that the list will benefit in the long run from
open archives. Even though Poetryetc may not need the advertising, it will
be well served by a regular infusion of new members. (I realize that word of
mouth will accomplish some of this, but an open archive would increase the
list's general exposure.)
E-mail lists are not "the public square" where every passerby may be
harangued, but they are not quite salons, either, where the uncouth can be
excluded by a doorman. I fear that in closing the archives we will allow
ourselves to close our minds. (I would, with Henry, like to see Kent Johnson
invited back to the list at some point, since if he resumed his membership
he would have to do so with full knowledge of the ways things work.) To say
this is not to criticize the decisions taken by Candice & Alison, which as
far as I can see were perfectly legitimate under the circumstances.
Finally, I'd like to address an issue that has been flitting around the
edges of this recent "flare-up"--viruses. Viruses are a general problem for
everyone who uses the internet & it is the nature of viruses to attack
indiscriminately. I'm certainly no computer scientist, so I don't know if it
is theoretically possible to design a virus to attack a particular cyber
population, but I have never heard of such a thing. And I do not believe
that this list has been attacked in this manner. The attacks on Poetryetc
were personal & verbal, not viral & it will make no difference in members'
safety whether the archives are open or closed. We only make ourselves
paranoid & pull further into our shells if we allow ourselves to jump to
conclusions about cyber vandalism of this sort. The only real defense
against viruses is for each person who uses the internet to make sure they
are inoculated.
Again, none of this is intended to suggest I have anything but the fullest
confidence in the good will of Candice & Alison--my remarks above a simply
one list-member's reflections, trying to steer an ethical course.
Joe
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Joseph Duemer
School of Liberal Arts, 5750
Clarkson University
Potsdam NY 13699
315.268.3967
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