Dear Andrew et al,
Those wishing to unsubscribe should press the delete key now!
I'm glad to see that my suggestion is 'noted' and that it would be 'possible' to set up a separate forum for debates. The inverted commas, of course, suggest this will be ignored.
Might I suggest, however, that if the BAFTSS Executive and membership is of the view that the current mailing list should be used for debates, then it needs much more effective and robust moderation. Such moderation would be easier to implement on a forum than on the mailing list.
Two specific points:
1. Reviewing the 'Revisiting Solipsistic Film Criticism' thread, and looking at messages that I had previously deleted (hence why I'm writing this in the middle of the night!), in my view there are at least two posts that are clearly directed at an individual in a tone that is borderline aggressive. If this had been a discussion thread and I'd been a moderator, I don't think the tone would have been sufficient to close down the thread, but I would certainly have written privately to those concerned to ask them to tone it down.
2. Alex Marlow Mann did so on the thread, rightly asking for the debate to be conducted in "a cordial tone". He was ignored. Indeed one might go so far as to suggest that one of the replies more or less shouted down his request. (I read Jeremy Valentine's intervention as being tongue in cheek, but I'm not sure if everyone necessarily would.) However, given that Alex, who has been closely associated with BAFTSS and a member of the Executive Committee, is the closest to a moderator on this thread, then his (perfectly appropriate) request should not be ignored.
There are wider issues at stake. Yes, on the one hand, one of the aims of BAFTSS is to encourage and act as a forum for scholarly debate (I think "not polemic" might have been in the mission statement at one point). No-one is suggesting that appropriate debates should not be conducted through BAFTSS. But, on the other hand, the mailing list, in the absence of a more extensive website at present, is the principal interface between BAFTSS and the rest of the scholarly community. One of our aims is to promote the cause of film, television and screen studies, to government and the public at large, but I wonder what impression we would give to anyone on the outside looking in? Moreover, is the tone of the debate conducive to encouraging newcomers, including PG students, to contribute to debates if they see them being conducted in this manner? I've had a couple of messages from PGs and one junior colleague (in another institution) saying they have not wanted to get involved in the debate for fear of being shouted down. Surely we should not be discouraging people from getting involved.
This is a roundabout way of saying (again) that any debate, where of course there will be different and passionately held points of view, and whether it is conducted through the list or on a forum, needs effective moderation. But I do wonder (perhaps provocatively) whether some people want to keep this debate on the general list because it's a lot more difficult to moderate in this way and so allows them to shout all the louder?
Here endeth the missive - and, I promise, my last public intervention on this subject.
James
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