Subject: Re: Alternatives

From: "Richard D. Weis" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 25 Sep 1997 01:12:38 +0000

Dear TC List Members,

Several recent posts reacting to Dr. Adair's proposal for a 
modification of the list move in a direction that I would like to 
develop a bit further.  I write from the perspective of one who has 
posted to the list less than he might have because of the tenor of 
some discussions.

I would distinguish two issues that impinge of the value of exchanges 
on the list.

One has to do with the substance of posts, e.g., two recent threads
that the listowner determined were no longer appropriate for
continuing discussion.  The proposal for a dual list addresses this
issue nicely, I think.  However, so does individual use of the
delete button and filters, as others have already noted.  The
possibility proposed by Matthew Johnson of limiting the ability of
persons to post to the list when they violate the (rather broad and
gently set) boundaries set by the listowner addresses this
systemically without the issues attendant in two lists.  Personally,
I've already been using the delete button quite liberally for this
sort of thing.  I don't need a dual list to handle this.

The second issue at stake here is the tenor of some exchanges on the
list.  By this I mean the sort of interaction that takes place when
the firm -- in some cases blunt -- statements of some posters "hook"
the sensitivities of other listers, and we get a sort of escalating
exchange of increasingly personal character.  This is a normal
enough experience in human interaction, but several factors seem to
aggravate this in the context of the list:  the differing
backgrounds and levels of experience among those of us on the list;
the fact that -- as Ulrich Schmid pointed out -- we often may not
know each other apart from posting on the list; and the tendency for
the "walls" of our little electronic "room" to bounce emotional
energy right back at us all too quickly.  The various moderating
influences inherent in face to face conversation seem not to be
active in this environment so the esclation is very quick.  This is a
new environment with its own dynamics, and it seems that we are
still learning how to modulate our communication within it.

For me this second issue is the one that matters more.  Thoughtful 
and useful posts take some time to formulate, and like most of us I 
have plenty of other demands on my time.  When a productive 
discussion starts to disintegrate, I'm a lot less willing to pay the 
price in time to participate.  (Not that there have been so many 
discussions in my area of specialty, TC of the Hebrew Bible.)

The suggestions of Peter Burton seem to me to be more to the point 
than dividing the list.

To his list I would add two queries:

1.  Do the dynamics of this medium require us to self-consciously 
exercise greater deliberation and attention to tone and nuance in 
communication than we would invest in face to face communication?

2.  Would a practice patterned after the ANE list be useful?  I
refer to the practice where subscription to the list implies
acceptance of a brief code of civil exchange which is enforced by
the de-listing of persons who violate it repeatedly and egregiously?  
Prior to the adoption of that practice the exchanges on that list got 
worse than anything I've seen on TC List, resulting in the closing of 
the list.  This practice since the reopening of the list has done 
much to preserve the civility someone else remarked upon.

Best wishes,
Richard Weis
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Richard D. Weis                                          [email-masked]
New Brunswick Theological Seminary        phone: 1-732-246-5613
17 Seminary Place                                       FAX: 1-732-249-5412
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1196 USA
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