[lit-ideas] Re: List moderator
- From: Robert Paul <robert.paul@xxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2006 16:13:21 -0800
Ursula,
I find your reaction to Andreas' briefly moderating the list (mostly
overnight) puzzling.
Several things:
On the blog, you liken his action to the destruction of Phil-Lit.
Phil-Lit was not exactly destroyed: it was unilaterally shut down by
David Meyers (against the wishes of the advisory board (or whatever we
were called) which had been formed to prevent his doing just that, and
to prevent his intemperate removal of listmembers who offended him.
But he had the keys, despite what had been agreed.
After 9/11, what had been in fact, not just in name, a list for the
discussion of ideas, became highly politicized. Tempers flared, feeling
ran high, and personal attacks were common. It was not pleasant. Many
despaired. Yet the list survived: people like Chris Bruce continued to
send posts on Rilke, and Kant; things were discussed amid the shouting.
But there were never, at any time, on Phil-Lit, continued contentless
exchanges of sheer, vituperative misunderstanding such as we saw here
not long ago, a flurry of posts that would have been unthinkable on
Phil-Lit, even on its worst days.
It would have been unthinkable not because nobody ever told anybody else
to fuck off, but because after the first such post, The Chider would
have (off list) gently (at first) told the party of the first part to
cool it, please. And after continued infractions the Board might have
discussed unsubbing him or her.
It was not moderation of Phil-Lit which eventually killed it but the
very thing you seem in favor of, viz., the free reign of rudeness and
intolerance of the plainest sort. This is not a bar. But if it were, one
might wonder why anybody would want to remain in a place where everybody
was shouting 'Eat shit, you motherfucking asshole,' without pause.
That's not discussion. It's not the free expression of ideas. It's just
noise. I'll go down the street.
This list was never shut down, as you seem to imply. It was, for a very
brief time, moderated—although not as Phil-Lit was moderated. Andreas
looked at posts before they appeared on the list. (Obviously he could
not keep that up, nor did he want to.) Phil-Lit was moderated after the
fact. Not everything went.
I admired your poem and your crooked house.
Robert
robert.paul@xxxxxxxx
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