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Henry Gould asked me to forward this to the list, as his home modem is playing up. Robin Hamilton. *********************************************************** Henry writes: ...the best way to get a flavor for the buffalo flap, even though it takes some tedious searching, is to go to the Poetics list archive for Nov and Dec 1998. Without getting into the details, I think it was a crisis, overdetermined by several different factors. One was the SUCCESS of the list - it was huge, as you can see, with dozens of pretty active members. For some people the sheer volume was a problem. Overposting was an issue - in my 2 years on the list, I had been warned backchannel by C. Bernstein to reduce my postings (others had been warned too). I generally concurred with him & tried to get along, though I was a high-level poster most of the time, and my "poetics" position annoyed some people. Another factor was that at the time of the crisis there was a nasty back-&-forth going on between Marjorie Perloff & another list member, with other people pitching in to defend one or the other. I came to the other person's defense (Perloff is a friend of C. Bernstein) & was warned about overposting: I posted once more & Charles put me on a special "review" status which no other member had been subjected to. He did this backchannel, without announcing it to the list. I wrote to the list explaining the situation & agreeing with the status - basically I agreed in principle with the idea that people should exercise some restraint & not overpost, though often I had trouble abiding by it. What happened next, though, was that 2 or 3 of my "reviewed" posts were simple "disappeared" without notice from CB. I queried him backchannel about it & got no response. At that point I felt it had become censorship, & that I was being put in an untenable position. I resigned from the list. That set off a big & sometimes vituperative debate over the month of December. Two other list members were expelled from the list. At the end of Dec 1998 Poetics was re-organized; the 2 managers resigned (oddly this was happening when Clinton was being impeached & the two top Republican congressmen resigned!) & new people came in to manage a new "controlled" list, in which ALL posts are reviewed & posted at the managers' discretion - it's like an edited bulletin board now. When I applied to re-join under the new auspices my application was rejected - I was considered a troublemaker. There were & are MANY diverse opinions about all these events; many old-time Poetics listmembers felt that it was abuse by over-use that was the true culprit for the old list's demise, and hold me & others responsible. Basically I think none of us - Charles, me, or any of the others - expected any of this to happen. I think Charles was a little heavy-handed with me & it sort of backfired. & I must say in my defense against those who have misrepresented me & my motives & participation - that I never engaged in vicious or personal attacks on the Poetics list, & in fact tried to keep things civil & entertaining.