Theos-Talk Archives (December 2002 Message tt00440)

Hey,

That's a good idea. Nevertheless, if someone comes in "off topic" after two 
such warnings (not necessarily from me) I will henceforth put that writer's 
address on my blocked mail list. 

LHM

In a message dated 12/13/02 8:19:42 AM, kpauljohnson@yahoo.com writes:

>Hey,
>
>I would concur that political discussion is inappropriate here, but we
>should all understand Eldon's reluctance to play policeman. When ULTers
>start going on about unnamed people who shouldn't be here and ideas that
>shouldn't be discussed, I can't help suspecting that they'd prefer to get
>rid of every active participant who doesn't parrot the ULT party line.
> When it is said that people on "ego trips" should go away, I think "be
>careful what you wish for" because a god granting that wish might remove
>a lot of you true believers along with some of us heathen.
>
>Although my political sympathies are quite different from those of Bart,
>Larry, and Bill, I consider them friends and have no desire to debate 
politics
>with them here or elsewhere. People who want spirited liberal debate are
>advised to check out 
>http://democraticunderground.com 
>There are comparable rightwing sites.
>
>There is a happy medium between defining theosophical discussion so narrowly
>as to exclude "everyone but me and thee" and defining it so broadly as
>to allow any old thing. Eldon surely has the judgment to do this, but
>do we want to burden him with enforcing guidelines about theosophical 
discussion
>topics? 
>
>What I propose: put some guidelines in the list description about what
>is off-topic here. Then, when someone posts something off-topic, instead
>of arguing with it, (BART) just say "that's off-topic." And most especially
>(DALLAS, LEON) don't write vague sweeping posts denouncing multiple unnamed
>miscreants who ought not be here, and implicitly asking Eldon to get rid
>of them. Just say "Hey, Steve, (or whoever) that's off-topic." That way
>you are taking responsibility for objecting to specific posts by specific
>posters, rather than (IMO) polluting the atmosphere with denunciations
>of a generic class of unnamed, unwelcome participants. That's carrying
>ULT "impersonality" to a destructive extreme.
>
>Cheers,
>
>Paul