I'm not a list manager or anything, but as I recall, there is a
guideline that says disputes on other lists should not be brought to
this one.
A
On Tue, Feb 23, 2010 at 7:07 AM, Jeffrey Side <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> This may be of interest to those of you who are also on the British and
> Irish Poets List.
>
> Due to reasons that have not been explained to me, I have been
> banned from the British and Irish Poets List. I am at a loss to see why
> this has happened. The list managers in their email notifying me of this
> banning failed to tell me exactly why, mentioning only that I had
> made ‘speculative attacks’—against whom or what has been omitted.
> Here is the email:
>
>
> Dear Jeffrey,
>
> Due to your repeated, unsubstantiated and entirely speculative attacks,
> in accordance with list rules you have been removed from the British
> and Irish Poetry List.
>
> Your sincerely,
>
> Randolph Healy
> Ian Davidson
>
>
> If by that they are referring to my posts on the Oxford Professor of
> Poetry elections, then I can’t see those as meriting my banning. Anyone
> is free to view these posts, and if they do they will see that I said
> nothing like the portrayal of them by the list managers.
>
> Perhaps they are referring to one of the following comments I
> attempted to post but for some reason didn’t appear (presumably
> vetted). I will leave it to you to judge for yourselves if I said anything
> in them meriting the ban:
>
> In response to Jamie Mckendrick regarding the Oxford Professor of
> Poetry elections:
>
> “Ideally, the electoral rules and procedures you mention should prevail,
> but we are both old enough to suspect that given the potential for
> favouritism (and the politics of poetry seems to operate on this basis)
> such transparency could be jeopardised."
>
> In response to Jamie Mckendrick regarding the Oxford Professor of
> Poetry elections
>
> “When Heaney held the post, most of his lectures concerned
> themselves with defending the sort of poetic styles that his own poetry
> relied on. So the post seems to have the potential to enable the
> particular poet holding the position to use it as a platform for apologia
> for their poetry. And because most of those likely to hold the position
> will be those who write mainstream poetry, the pedagogical process of
> disseminating the virtues of such poetry publically will continue. By the
> way, the same would also be true if an “avant-garde” poet held the
> post. Given this, I see no reason for the post to exist.”
>
> In response to Robin Hamilton regarding the Oxford Professor of Poetry
> elections
>
> “I don’t see such a sharp contradiction as you do, Robin. I didn’t
> actually say the thing had been “fixed”, though that was perhaps the
> inference (which I have apologised for) I gleaned from Stevenson’s
> quote. I merely suggested that she might know something about any
> behind-the-scenes machinations that went on. I certainly didn't claim
> that I knew about such, also. Perhaps I shouldn’t have used the
> word “fixed” in my apology, as it was not a word I used in my original
> post, and has obviously misled you as to what I did say.”
>
> My apologies for burdening you with this, but it is merely for the record.
> I tried to get this forwarded to the list itself, but the list managers
> intercepted it and rebuked the person who had tried to forward it for me-
> -so much for democracy and free speech.
>
>
--
Editor, Masthead: http://www.masthead.net.au
Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Home page: http://www.alisoncroggon.com
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