No Dania, the List will not be less fair after Tom's resignation. The = List is all of us, the ideas expressed on it the ideas of all of us. = Personally, I valued Tom's input, even when I disagreed with him, and there was more than one occasion in the past when I persuaded Tom to remain when he indicated he had considered resigning, but he has been much less active = on the List in recent months, both as a regular member and as an admin - = until the past couple of weeks when he started posting again with some = frequency. As he said himself tonight, he continues to be a member, will still be = here. Life has a way of taking over sometimes, just as it has done for me recently. The fairness of the List, or the lack of it, will come from = the thoughts posted by its members, not by who is or who is not an administrator. That said, all of the admins have all always done our best to be fair = and will continue to do everything we can to be fair. While we don't necessarily agree, we have all recognized that what is fair where the = List is concerned is not necessarily the same as what we prefer in our = personal opinons. Like everything else, the List has changed over time. One thing that = has changed a lot since the early days of the List (when there were fewer = than 100 people) is that, with the much larger group, the administration has = done much less intervention than it used to. The idea that a group of people could caucus to decide what to do about a thread when hunreds of people = get involved in a heated discussion is just not workable anymore, as it may = have been once upon a time. Besides, by definition, intervention is = troublesome. List members are adults, over 1000 of them. They are entitled to = discuss their opinions, whether popular or unpopular. We dislike interfering, = other than perhaps to express our own opinions, even if we vehemently disagree with what is being said, hated being referred to as "the List police" - = that was never what any of us wanted the List to be. It is too valuable as = the commuication superhighway of the fancy to be patrolled by traffic cops. = The thing that makes it "fair" is to allow people to speak their minds = freely, and to provide the vehicle for them to do that. That is what I see as = the real value of the List. Furthermore, as was recently demonstrated when = the Scholes thread emerged, stopping discussions and threads is very = difficult, due to the timing of posts, the timing of subscribers' reading of posts, = and the serial way people read and respond. Since the days when you were an Administrator, we had pretty much concluded that no matter what, there = will always be some people who prefer that we intervene, and some who prefer = that we do not. Whichever direction we take, the opposite position will = always be there, and some will be perturbed. Given that, and that the List membership is comprised of adults, mainly avid fanciers with intense feelings about the Breed, the Club, the sport, the wisest course is generally to let water seek its own level, and not to interfere when = people want to express themselves. That was, after all, one of the most = important ideas behind the birth of the United States, the freedom to express = ones' ideas, and the value of the ability for the fancy to communicate is the value the List brings. Besides, there is a great deal more to being an administrator than = having an opinion - there is a great deal of behind the scenes maintenance and = plain hard work. There are over 1100 subscribers. Invariably some of them to have technical problems, questions and difficulties requiring technical assistance, starting mail, stopping mail, needing something. Most = people would be amazed to know how many hours of time go into keeping the = wheels turning - it is virtually a full time job, and we both have fulltime = jobs as it is. As more people have joined the List over time, the maitenance workload has gotten heavier. The nuts and bolts work has, as Tom has indicated in the past, been shouldered primarily Zoe and me, and in the = most recent past, with the personal issues I have had to deal with, Zoe has = often had to struggle on by herself. We have periodically asked for = volunteers to step forward as new administrators. Part of the challenge is that a substatial level of technical literacy is necessary in an administrator, = and even so, a substantial learning curve, and even more time invested in teaching new people, which is so hard to do when time is so lacking. = I'm sure you remember the hours we spent working together when you first = came onboard. It gets harder and harder to find the time to do that, to = bring new admins. into the loop. Tom, Zoe and I have been in place since the = very beginning, so that was not an issue for us, but will be as new people = come along and offer to help. We will continue to do the best we can, and = are sure that, with the intensity of ideas held by Listers, there will = always be ideas and opinions expressed on every side of every topic. Margy Golant -----Original Message----- From: showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf = Of DaniaKarloff@xxxxxxx Sent: Saturday, August 26, 2006 12:44 AM To: showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [ SHOWGSD-L ] Re: ADMIN- My resignation =20 In a message dated 8/25/2006 10:31:11 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, =20 Gsdman2@xxxxxxx writes: I am sorry, and a bit relieved to inform you that I have decided to = resign=20 as =20 an administrator of the Showgsd-l -------------------------------------------------------------------------= - I was sorry to see Tom's decision to resign as a List Administrator. I = believe the List will be less fair, less knowledgeable and less erudite with his=20 departure. No matter what the subject was, you could always count on = Tom to=20 be reasonable, honest and fair minded. I can only hope that the = remaining=20 administrators (Margy and Zoe) will follow Tom's advice and seek to increase=20 the number of Administrators to ensure that different opinions are considered. =20 =20 =20 A sad day. =20 Dania - A former Showgsd List Administrator =20 =20 =20 =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D POST is Copyrighted 2006. All material remains the property of the = original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of = any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND = of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.=20 ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN = ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS = EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL = BE PROSECUTED.=20 For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - URL temporarily deleted due to AOL issues =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2006. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - URL temporarily deleted due to AOL issues ============================================================================