[WikiEN-l] An expanded-topic Mailing List

[Marc Riddell]

on 2/8/07 5:46 AM, Ray Saintonge at saintonge at telus.net wrote:

> The problem with chat rooms is that they are
> geared toward people with short attention spans who think is one-line
> bites.  The kind of thoughtful discussion that Marc envisions does not
> fit in that kind of environment.  In some cases I prefer to wait a day
> or two to think about my answer before replying.

Exactly!

I'd like to make my thoughts about my proposal as clear as I can.

The sociocultural issues that would be discussed in this new Mailing List
are ones that exist in the world at large, not within the Wikipedia
Community.

I haven't been participating in the WikiEN-L Mailing List all that long, but
in the time that I have I've found the participants to be an interesting-,
diverse- and eclectic-sounding group. Often times in the posts that I read a
person will touch upon, or brush up against, an issue that has larger-world
social or cultural connections, but back off very quickly saying the list
isn't for that. And, they are right, it isn't. That's when it occurred to
me: why not have a Mailing List where persons could express their feelings
and beliefs about such larger social and cultural issues; compare and
contrast their own beliefs and ideas with others; and perhaps learn
something in the process. It would provide a forum to, perhaps most
importantly, question those social and cultural ³absolutes² we take as
gospel because ³that¹s the way it is², or (worse) that¹s the way it¹s always
been².

Chat room style formats very often consist of knee-jerk responses that
represent beliefs and opinions learned strictly from other persons; rather
than ones we ourselves have formulated after taking that input, chewing on
it for a while, and coming up with ones that are truly our own.

I admit this could, at times, attract persons who want just to argue for its
own sake; push their own beliefs and agendas; and could (more likely,
probably would) at times, turn into an unproductive shouting match. If these
types of situations did occur, it would also give the other, more
disciplined participants an opportunity to learn how to control such
situations.

I believe if the purpose and goal of the List is set to learn rather than to
merely convince, something positive could come of it.

Marc Riddell