Libertarian,

Thank you for your detailed, point by point response.

I have written you and Brian Corr privately, responding to the proposal you both made. I don't intend to discuss that proposal on the list, because mediation works better without an audience.

As for calmness, I hope I've shown enough of it to interest you in my (free) services as a mediator.

I appreciate your efforts to seek a resolution. Coming to the mailing list and asking for help is the proper thing to do, and you have done it well! :-)

All POVs about a controversy are welcome, if they are attributed to their advocates. (Note that you and I are not considered advocates. I mean someone like a member of Parliament, or a famous journalist.)

Facts are good. Let's put plenty of them in the articles. If any facts are disputed, let's write about the dispute. Like:

* Vishnachristy said the fire occurred accidentally.
* Krishnamurta said Muslims started the fire deliberately.

Note that the article will not tell the reader which source to believe. It will only indicate WHAT each source SAID.

I'm sorry that it took so long for you to get help. We are not a mature organization, and the only person officially in charge of "helping" is the website owner, Jimbo Wales. He's very busy, but he hasn't appointed any official assistants yet. So we are all volunteers.

In my case, I postponed my offer of help until AFTER I was convinced that you were more interested in cooperation than in retaliation. Puzzle over THAT for a while, eh?

I hope that as a result of my offer to help, there will be a lot less branding. We can't reach our mutual goal by inflicting scorching pain on each other.

If you are willing to take the time to work together on making a neutral article, I will help.

Ed Poor