[WikiEN-l] Re: Eric B. Rakim's request for help

[dpbsmith at verizon.net]

1) Eric B. Rakim's presentation, in this mailing list, of his case for 
including these articles and of the behavior of others, fell far short of 
exhibiting a NPOV. It was extremely assertive advocacy. It should always be 
possible for any party to a dispute to describe the points in contention in a 
way that is _acceptable_ to other parties.

2) IMHO listing articles on VfD is indeed slightly hostile to the author and 
it is understandable that an author may get angry about it. However, it is 
not by any stretch of the imagination "vandalism." 

3) I find that I have developed a bad habit, which I am trying to cure, of 
discussing articles in VfD as if the author were not present. 

4) Every contributor really needs to accept _in his heart_ the note on the 
submission page "If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly... 
then do not submit it."

5) Perhaps this warning needs to be expanded a bit, as I do not think newbies 
generally understand "merciless editing" can extend as far as deleting the 
article.