The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
Views expressed in this archived message are those of the author, not of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
[Main archive index/search] [List information] [Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq Homepage]
If we are discussing Palestine/Israel, can't we just make a subject heading 'Palestine/Israel' so that those who are not interested (or don't have time) can delete these messages? Valerie Jabir On Thu, 19 Oct 2000 11:42:35 +0100 (BST) Seb Wills <saw27@cam.ac.uk> wrote: > > > > Dear All, > > Whilst I'm reluctant to prolong what I feel is an unnecessary and itself > not very relevant thread of discussion, there are a few points I think > which need to be made. > > Firstly, can I say that although the list manager very occassionally > applies some kind of control to the list, this is not done lightly and is > done in as responsible and reasonable a manner as possible. The stated > purpose of the list is to provide a forum for polite, informed > communication about Iraq, and CASI considers itself responsible for > ensuring that the list provides that forum. Therefore if a list member > posts personal insults, or repeatedly posts material "not relevant" (more > on that later), I think it is CASI's duty to lightly moderate (not > prohibit!) their future input to the list. This has only been done in two > cases so far in the list's existance. We would never block someone's > messages which were to do with Iraq unless we felt them to be personally > offensive or to waste other list members' time by being a repeat of > previous postings. In Nels' case this was clearly a one-off incident and > I'm sure he'll be back on the list-proper very soon if he isn't already. > > Some of you may feel that you don't mind getting many more messages a day > about Iraq and doing your own 'filtering'. I would suggest this is only > true up to a point. There are many email lists which degenerate into > nothing but slanging matches - interspersed with occassional informative > messages - with hundreds of messages a day flying backwards and forwards. > As an extreme example, the soc.culture.iraq newsgroup carries about 100 > messages a day, the majority with subject lines like "Sharon is a MADMAN", > "Iraq sucks", "The Koran is toilet paper" (a selection from yesterday's > collection. Somewhere in the middle of yesterday's postings, I see there's > one message about the mortality rates caused by sanctions. (I'm not, of > course, suggesting anything as inapproprate as these messages has ever > been posted to the discussion list, although people who are not on the > list (who therefore don't have the automatic right to post messages to it) > do sometimes try to post such rude, racist and offensive messages to our > discussion list. We don't let them). > > > I don't believe the majority of list members on our list have the time to > spend hours each day picking out messages with useful content. If it cost > nothing for anyone in the world to produce and send to you paper letters, > we would all get sackfulls of mail every day and have to spend the whole > day sorting it out! Because email is (in some sense) free, there is a > danger of degenerating to this level. Clearly the CASI list is a million > miles from that, but I think it's important to prevent it sliding in that > direction. If you want discussion entirely free of constraint, sign up to > other Iraq email lists and newsgroups as well! This isn't a flippant > comment: I think the CASI discussion list occupies an important 'niche' in > the 'infoscape', but it isn't the only resource, and it won't entirely > satisfy everyone's needs on its own. > > It's worth pointing out that whenever there is a significant rise in the > number of emails to the list, it is followed by a wave of 'unsubscribe' > requests - i.e. there is a large sector of the list members who are > interested to read one or two focused emails about Iraq a day, but for > whom Iraq isn't the main focus of their life, and so simply don't have > time to look at a larger number of emails on that subject. Further more, I > think they are in important sector to keep informed -- dedicated Iraq > activists aren't the only people who need to be informed. > > As for the question of relevance - I don't want the definition to be too > narrow. Clearly the issue is linked to the wider context of the Middle > East, and I personally don't object to messages which make explicit > connections to Palestine etc. But there are more appropriate forums for > messages *just* about Palestine, which don't even mention Iraq. As Mil > said, this list has a specific purpose - there are others to complement it > if you want to get lots of emails about other issues. Because of our > desire to limit the number of messages flying around on the list, we have > to use a fairly narrow subject criteria. > > Finally, I'd like to say that a lot of effort goes into to maintaining > this list, and the list manager/moderator has an often tedious and > timeconsuming job. I for one am very grateful to her for saving me time by > keeping the discussion focused. I also have complete faith that her > decisions are open-minded, fair and 100% reasonable and in the best > interests of the anti-sanctions community in this country. > > Ultimately, some people would no doubt prefer a list where anyone can say > anything at all. I don't feel too guilty about CASI not satisfying these > people's needs, because it is simple and free for people to set up > alternative lists if they really want to (and there are such lists already > existing -- for example as far as I know the iac-discussion list on > egroups is unmoderated). Staying in the particular niche of a > narrowly-focussed, polite, forum is a valid strategy for the CASI list. > Using Mil's analogy, a meeting of 250 people (the number of people on this > list) without some kind of chairperson or ground rules would not be a > productive one. > > > very best wishes to you all, > > > Seb > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > Seb Wills > e: saw27@cam.ac.uk > p: Clare College, Cambridge CB2 1TL, UK > ------------------------------------------------------------ > Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq: www.casi.org.uk > ------------------------------------------------------------ > > On Wed, 18 Oct 2000 JeanR23@aol.com wrote: > > > I have been thinking about this problem for two days as I also do not agree > > the arguments put forward about preserving the list. I agree totally with > > the sentiments expressed by Hadi, John Smith and Dave Rolstone - I delete > > loads of stuff that doesn't interest me-so where do we go from here? > > > > Jean R > > -- > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > > This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq > > For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk > > Full details of CASI's various lists can be found on the CASI website: > > http://www.casi.org.uk > > > > > > > -- > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq > For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk > Full details of CASI's various lists can be found on the CASI website: > http://www.casi.org.uk -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk Full details of CASI's various lists can be found on the CASI website: http://www.casi.org.uk