Dear John, & list
I reread my email and I do agree it could have been clearer...
What I have done is set his subscription(s) to "user may not post to the list" so that he should RECEIVE mail from the list, but be unable to post to it.
I emailed his work address (Iowa) with the main points which have been raised regarding his membership of lis-link.
The message is below, (including typos) and again, it could have been better expressed:
>Dear Gerry,
>I am the administrator for lis-link, one of the UK library mailing lists that you are subscribed to as......
>A large number of list members have expressed concern at the volume of messages that you are posting, >>
>and the fact that you post to multiple lists at the same time. I am only concerned with postings to lis-link.
>We also feel that you should consider how relevant the content of each mail is to each of the lists that you >are sending it to, and improve the layout of your emails to make them clearer and easier to read.
>Perhaps you should consider using a blog with RSS feeds and twitter as your main dissemination tools and >restrict your postings to lis-link to times when you have made substantial updates to your sites, or have a >>genuine question that you wish to debate with us.
>As you read messages from lis-link (whether in digest form of individually) you will pick up hints as to the tone, content and style of typical emails to lis-link.
>Please contact me to discuss your membership and posting to the list. If you choose not to reply, then I will >delete you from lis-link.
>I am normally at work from 9 a.m.-5 p.m, British summertime, so given the difference bwteen time sozones >>there may be a delay in replying to your email.
Regards etc.
I had hoped that he would reply to me, and we could discuss things offlist, and then report back to the list.
I realise that this does mean that
1) Other lis-link members wouldn't see his reply initially
and 2) given the correspondence Gerry McKiernan might feel that I deprived him of the right to reply directly to his detractors.
However I do want the chance to discuss this with him off list, before any final decisions are made.
The other option we have is not to suspend his membership, but to set it so that all postings come to the administrator & I decide if they're suitable for the list.
Kirsty
Kirsty Beveridge
[log in to unmask]
Liaison Librarian , Life Sciences,
Engineering, Physics & Mathematics
Library Digitisation Service
University of Dundee Library & Learning Centre
Tel 01382 384089
************************************************************
Please consider the environment. Do you really need to print this email?
>>> John Salter <[log in to unmask]> 10/08/2010 14:26 >>>
Just another thought (sorry for the clutter!)
In Kirsty's reply, she states:
"Gerry's mail access to the list is currently suspended, and I'll try and email him to see if I get a response - incorporating some helpful suggestions."
What does this actually mean?
Does he not receive mail from the list - but has the ability to post to it?
If so, isn't this tantamount to spam? Sending messages in a fire-and-forget fashion without regard for replies to them?
Is he the quintessential anti-lurker?
I'm sure there are many subscribers to this list who 'lurk' - reading the discussions/pleas for help/interesting links without ever posting a reply (as I was for a while). GMcK seems to be the opposite of this - observing none of the list and posting more than most!
Cheers,
John
-----Original Message-----
From: A general Library and Information Science list for news and discussion. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kat Nower
Sent: 10 August 2010 14:08
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: (ll) Scholarship 2.0 Facebook
Just to respond to this with the results of the 'Gerry' survey so far, it looks like most people agree with Alan.
1) Nothing, I'm happy to receive them/delete them as I receive them
21.2% 61
2) Set up a LIS-Gerry email group for those that wish to subscribe
31.6% 91
3) Gerry should be removed from the LIS-LINK group
47.2% 136
Although I appreciate that the answers are not necessarily mutually exclusive (i.e. it's possible to agree with both 2 & 3- my mistake!), perhaps it would be best for Gerry's freedom of expression if he refrained from emailing the LIS-LINK group, and instead set up his own JISCMAIL list.
This would allow discussions about his email threads, and prevent people from sending 'Reply to all' responses which seem to be upsetting others.
If anyone else wants to do the survey, it's here:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GerryMcKiernan
I'll send the results to the LIS-LINK administrators at the end of the week.
-----Original Message-----
From: A general Library and Information Science list for news and discussion. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Exelby Alan Mr
(LIB)
Sent: 10 August 2010 13:49
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: (ll) Scholarship 2.0 Facebook
Sorry, I cannot agree; this response itself loses all perspective. No-one is depriving Gerry McK of his right to freedom of expression, but freedom of expression does not require that other people have to pay attention to that expression. To put in the context of the print technologies when these rights were developed: you can print what you like, but no-one else is obliged to buy or read what you say. Given the special conditions for the net, there are special rules, which include the principle that postings to mail lists should be relevant to the topic of the list; and other subscribers are perfectly within their rights to complain about posts they do not believe are within those rules. Trying to frame this in terms of freedom of expression is going way overboard.
For myself, I delete his posts unread due to their uncritical technophilia (along with unintelligible postings by other persons), but given the scale of rubbish I receive, I don't find this especially onerous - but there are often far more than "less than 1 a day", and I would certainly be glad to see them stopped.
Alan
==============================
Mr A.V. Exelby,
Systems/Databases Librarian.
The Library,
University of East Anglia,
Norwich, NR4 7TJ
Tel.: 01603 592432
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Information Services
================================
"Man, who'd have thought being a librarian could be so tough"
Seamus Harper, in 'Harper 2.0', "Andromeda".
>-----Original Message-----
>From: A general Library and Information Science list for news and
>discussion. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David Kane
>Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 12:10 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: (ll) Scholarship 2.0 Facebook
>
>Agreed.
>
>I don't like this.
>
>When herd mentality like this kicks in, tolerance, freedom of
>expression and compassion get kicked out. We lose humanity and our
>sense of perspective in the hysteria. It's how we fail as a species,
>on a bigger scale, with wars and the like.
>
>The correct perspective is that we are dealing with less than 1 message
>per day.
>
>The correct thing to do is to treat all people with dignity and
>respect.
>
>Thanks,
>
>David.
>
>
>On 10 August 2010 10:54, Lindsay, John M <[log in to unmask]>
>wrote:
>> The response to the occasional email from the list owner on Facebook
>above fascinates. There is hardly a message a day. I find the bot who
>owns the Facebook group responds fairly frequently, and sufficiently
>intelligently, that Turing would be impressed. Deleting messages that
>you don't want to read, about ten a day on lis-link, is done easily and
>collectively in digest mode, it isn't hard work. The messages on
>scholarship 2.0 are often telling me something I didn't know, and
>occasionally useful or I want to follow them. The same sort of thing
>happens on the KIDMM list. This is the first time I've seen a lis-link
>thread develop a discussion (these are called discussion lists for a
>reason) and I am stunned by parts of the community committed to freedom
>of expression and access to information
>(1948) responding in a manner of managerialism?
>>
>>
>> At some stage, I presume, in the best tradition of Niemoller,
>someone will start a thread about my occasional matters of politics,
>gardening, ISKO, PRADSA, concept theory, walking, public transport, and
>threads which someone doesn't see the connection with that particular
>flavour of lis-linking, such as linked data?
>>
>>
>> I do notice this list is about information science, rather than
>services, and to be a science means a particular matter for technical
>change.
>>
>>
>> Approaching an employer I find simply scandalous, and unethical.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> This email has been scanned for all viruses by the MessageLabs Email
>> Security System.
>>
>
>
>
>--
>David Kane, MLIS.
>Systems Librarian
>Waterford Institute of Technology
>Ireland
>http://library.wit.ie/
>T: ++353.51302838
>M: ++353.876693212
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