[OT] A sincere request- for sanity.

[Adrian Griffis]

On Sat, Aug 16, 2008 at 12:15 AM, Luke -Jr <luke at dashjr.org> wrote:
> Exactly, this is a group of Linux users. That does not exclude other topics
> from discussion, provided those discussing them are Linux users.

I must say, Luke, that I am troubled by your response to efforts to
contain the off topic hcatter on this list, particularly since you are
often a party to egging on the off-topic flamewars.  Like you I want
to avoid the strictest form of moderation, where no off-topic
discussion is allowed.  But it sounds like you would have us live with
almost no guidelines at all, and I fear that the flamewars you've
helped prepetuate convince me that we must excercise some control on
this list, even if it is largely self control.

Let me suggest to all on the list that perhaps it is time to start
talking about some principles we might use to guide our own behavior
on the list.  First, I'd say that any reasonable system of ethics
should govern interactions between different parties is such a way
that each party is offer some protected from the excesses of the other
parties.  I think we've seen examples of excess in recent discussions
on this list.  While we might have varying opinions about how much
departure from the list's topics is permissible, surely most of us can
agree that unlimited departures are not wwhat we want to see.

Second, I want to suggest a specific limit that we might all consider
following in our participation in this list.  While some off-topic
discussion could be acceptable, perhaps each of us could try to insure
that the amount of off-topic list bandwidth we use does not exceed the
amount of on-topic list bandwidth we use.

Any thoughts on this?

Adrian