I think John Marr is missing my point. I was responding to Eric's post about the limited number of active participants on NGC4LIB.
I simply said, based on my 20 years of managing library-related e-mail lists, that some NGC4LIB subscribers probably don't post to the list because they may be concerned about being treated rudely, given the tenor of some discussions/arguments/disagreements on the list. I don't think anyone would be crazy enough to dispute that.
Personally, I really like it when folks post spirited-and-sometimes-contentious notes to NGC4LIB. It would be a REALLY boring list without that.
I'm not "scapegoating" the people who express themselves "harshly".
Bernie Sloan
--- On Mon, 6/28/10, john g marr <jmarr_at_UNM.EDU> wrote:
From: john g marr <jmarr_at_UNM.EDU>
Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] Participation in the NGC4LIB list (was: mailing list administratativa)
To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Date: Monday, June 28, 2010, 5:22 PM
On Mon, 28 Jun 2010, B.G. Sloan wrote:
> 1. I know at least one thing that probably keeps some people from contributing to the list...the sometimes harsh tone of disagreements between some regular posters.
It is somewhat manipulative and rather off-base to scapegoat the people who express themselve "harshly" for the sensitivities of those who are discomfited. The society as a whole is being oversensitized, and constraint to absolute "niceness" of discourse (which manifests itself as some form of hypnotic trance) submerges the depth of individuals' concern. OTOH, there are people in other venues who intentionally use vitriolic rhetoric to manipulate emotional, rather than reasoned, responses on issues of interest. That's not likely to happen here (IMHO?).
> ... there's only a small percentage of members who post to [library] list[s]
Maybe they are bored with the flat emotional tones used? Some emotionality stirs up interest!!
If there are some individuals who are simply reticient to participate for fear of exposure of their own feelings, then the willingness of some folks to be publicly "harsh" should be encouraging. Or maybe it's just an epidemic presence of people with neurophysiological "communication disorders" in the Library community. :)
> * You want the regulars to show a little restraint and "moderate themselves accordingly".
Frankly (and having an immune system-related communication disorder myself), I find the forthright expressiveness of those "harshies" to be quite refressing compared to typical "PC" inter- and intra-library conversational styles.
Cheers!
jgm
John G. Marr
Cataloger
CDS, UL
Univ. of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131
jmarr_at_unm.edu
jmarr_at_flash.net
**There are only 2 kinds of thinking: "out of the box" and "outside the box."
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Received on Mon Jun 28 2010 - 20:32:31 EDT