[Harp-L] differences of opinion

[owner-harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx]

Fine to differ in opinion even strongly so.  It is important to remember
that disagreement doesn't suspend the rules of harp-l. When the argument
in favour of a position has declined to the personal the discussion can no
longer be about what it started about.  It has devolved to either an off
topic discussion or meta discussion. For a cogent explanation of what
exactly meta discussion is in terms of an internet discussion group follow
this link, http://www.fitz-claridge.com/node/18

Ms Fitz-Claridge walks us through an Ayn Rand discussion forum where the
topic is the book Atlas Shrugged.  She gives several examples of
discussions that fall under the meta discussion header.  My post here is a
great example of meta discussion and ordinarily it's something I try
extremely hard to avoid.

Why off topic discussion and personalised arguments are to be avoided is
for the vast majority of subscribers they hold no interest.  People
subscribe to harp-l to have access to information about harmonicas. 
Ultimately if the topics stray more often than not the community is
weakened because subscribers leave when the list isn't about what they
thought it was about.  Thanks, fjm harp-listowner