...

I have also noticed quite a bit of hysteria from the other side (see

the recent "Lir again" thread).

Hysteria? I have to support Zoe here; Lir is a disruptive child, and

she should probably be banned.

I want to point out a couple of things about this brief interchange.

First, it is probably not in good taste to call anyone hysterical, as it implies that the root of mental illness is the uterus. Freud's misogyny has no place here, and while I'm aware that words have current meanings apart from their entomology, it is important to know that the use of this word will sometimes be deemed offensive.

Second, labeling Lir as a disruptive child is not particularly productive. I think it would better to say that Lir's behavior is often disruptive, and that the overall impression that this behavior gives is one of childish stubbornness.

My overall point is that if we are looking to find "moral authority" we need to think and act in ways which respect human dignity, and which encourage at least a basic level of kindness and civility. Sometimes we will miss out on this because we aren't aware that what we say could be seen as offensive by others, and sometimes we'll miss out because we just aren't careful with our wording, but we should always aim towards the highest level of respect, and be willing to apologize when we fail to live up to that standard.

I want to be clear about one thing -- this comment is not directed at Larry or Erik specifically. In fact, I chose this exchange because I think these two cases reflect unintentional and very minor examples of the larger problem. But I think it is obvious that there is an larger trend on the whole list toward open hostility and name calling, and it's not just the most egregious examples which need to stop.

I believe that the current hostilities on the list are in effect poisoning the village well. If this trend continues, the mailing list will become less than useless because it does more harm to the project than good.

Basically, I'd propose that we restate our former agreement to refrain from "name calling" on the list as well as on Talk pages -- because "name calling" IS disruptive and childish. I also think that we should agree to calmly and collectively point out our disapproval of such actions whenever they occur.

Yours Mark Christensen