Clarifications

["harp-l listowner" <owner-harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm happy to say that I've resubscribed Johnny T to harp-l.  I had hastily
honored his request to be unsubscribed and it was a mistake.  I created a
misimpression that he had been removed for cause which was simply not the
case.

I have NEVER EVER removed anyone from the list as punishment.  I did
remove an address that I suspected was a spammer harvesting addresses but
even then I would have reinstated the address if they'd written back.  I
think there's a misimpression that I may have created that if you
displease the listowner you'll be unsubscribed.  It's not true.  Sure I
can imagine a situation where I'd unsubscribe an address but it's very
extreme.  Certainly I reserve my right to remove a subscriber for cause
but so far that hasn't happened and I sincerely hope it never happens.  As
Jonas once reminded me, it's all just words on a screen.

As listowner one of my hardest tasks is deciding when to end a discussion.
 Inevitably I'll get accused of censoring the list.  My goal in stopping a
discussion is always the same.  Avoiding the kind of ugly discussions that
lead to loss of subscribership and destruction of community.  It is not
the goal of the listowner to be a content filter for the list.  My
expectation has always been that people read our welcome document when
they subscribe and then follow the simple posting guidelines in the FAQ.

In general I allow off topic discussions as long as they don't persist and
the discsussions stay out of the terrritory of flaming.  My reasoning is
this, oftentimes the off topic stuff is part of the evolution of the
culture of the list.  For me the line between heated discussion is this. 
Personal attack versus disagreement.  It's ok to say I don't agree with
you and here's why.  It's not ok to say I disagree with you and you are a
moron.

So how do we discuss contested topics on harp-l?  With mutual respect.  If
you can't manage that first step perhaps you shouldn't be engaging in the
discussion.  Nobody listens if they can't get heard.  It's a vicious
circle.  Acknowledging  the opposing point of view is a good first step. 
It's ok to write to the list and say that you found a particular post
offensive.  It's not ok to post that the person who posted is offensive. 
This includes the many people who want to weigh in with support during one
of these intense threads.  If you've got something to add to the
discussion, great.  If all you want to post is person X is good or person
Y is bad then you really need to send that support to the person off list.
 I would discourage everyone from writing people off list to harass
people.  It's simply an abuse of the privilege of having access to the
subscriber base of harp-l to do so.  If you want to talk about the merits
of the subject as long as it kind of pertains of harmonica or this
community and the discussion doesn't stray into personal attacks we'll be
fine.

If you're still reading this then I'm impressed.  Thanks for helping make
harp-l what it is.  We're the longest lived harmonica discussion list on
the internet, quickly headed into our 12th year.