Sinister: please read

[honey at xxx.org]

(A mummy mail)

There are one or two mails flying around the ears of this Napster
debate that are beginning to give off sparks of flames: comments that
are inclined to raise an inflammatory debate which will be between a
few people and very boring for the rest of us.  They usually involve
exquisitely poised statements that teeter around the edge of personal
insult, and they usually end up with a handful of people posting more
and more rapid and shorter emails.  Such statements are Public Enemy
Number One on this list, and I have no tolerance for them, based on
previous list history and experience on other lists.  I'm sure you all
read the FAQ.  It's about list survival and you all getting the
list you make.

The Napster "debate" (often expanded into the debate of open
peer-to-peer network sharing tools such as Open Napsters, Gnutella,
AudioGalazy, and on into areas such as Freenet) and the private vs.
public property of creative works is probably the most commonly
occuring thread on any music or arts-based mailing list right now.  I'm
sure the rate at which they pop up rivals even debates such as
"children's programs when I was young", which pops up regular as
clockwork every few months or so.  Naturally so, because it's what we
all talk about over tea (orange and cinnamon) and biscuits (hmm..
custard creams I think).  But please remember that there's 1400 people
on the list, so it'd probably be best if you checked in the archives
first to see if what you're saying has come up lots before.  You'll see
oodles of the above two topics in there already.  That doesn't mean you
shouldn't express your own feeling on such things, please just have
some sensitivity to your audience.

Nor does it mean strong opinions aren't a good thing: they are the
lifeblood of every mailing list.  So this is *not* a request to shut
down this debate (please continue!), just please think as you post
whether what you're doing contributes to a fuller or lesser list.

One other thing: anyone who posts strong opinions to the list (good) is
bound to receive a reaction (good and bad).  That's the deal when you
post to a public forum.  Some of this reaction will be positive and
supportive (good), some will be in disagreement but opening debate
(good still, presumably, because that was why you posted?) and some
will just be pointless, ill-judged and maybe rude (bad, depending on
whether you want a fight or not, for therapeutic reasons).  What you do
with those reactions, should you receive them in private is your *own*
business.  Your public post created this reaction.  In the case of the
third category of responses, I wouldn't respond but you might choose
to.  But the list is *not* a public therapy session, and you should
keep private debate off the list, even if sparked by public comment.
What people say to you privately is their business.  What you say back
privately is yours.

Honey x

+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
    +---+  Brought to you by the undead Sinister mailing list  +---+
    To send to the list mail sinister at missprint.org. To unsubscribe
    send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to
    majordomo at missprint.org.  WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister
 +-+  "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students"  +-+
 +-+  "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list"  +-+
 +-+       "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper        +-+
 +-+   "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000   +-+
 +-+       "peculiarly deranged fanbase" "frighteningly named       +-+
 +-+           Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000           +-+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+