Klarinet Archive - Posting 000600.txt from 2001/01
From: Gavin Rebetzke <GRebetzke@-----.au>
Subj: RE: [kl] Lelia and the list
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 23:13:24 -0500
After reading Lelia's Usenet post (which, by the way, was only possible
because Mark C posted a link to assist those unfamiliar with same), I
emailed her and diplomatically told her that I thought she was out of her
tree to react in the way she had, whilst telling her I thought, IMHO, she
was owed an apology about the Hitler/Bush similarity thing. Lelia had
stated that her journalistic principles required her to "resign" when faced
with the dilemma of being censored for political reasons. She had
apparently given Mark C. permission to publish an article about clarinet
timbers on the sneezy site which she said put her in an editor-journalist
relationship with Mark c. I could not understand her decision to "resign",
as it seemed clear to me that it was obvious that the "rules" about
off-topic posts was the reason for the removal of her rant on the BBoard,
rather than any political censorship.
Now, after reading this message (Mark's post reproduced below), I'm not so
sure Lelia was out of her tree completely. Mark says this is what he wrote
to Lelia:
Lelia,
I just read your rant - and it is. The only way to balance it would be to
write what I think, which is almost wholly opposed to what you wrote.
So I'll snip it out, since politics don't really belong there.
As a disinterested observer, one might ask why Lelia's post needed to be
balanced by the moderator of the BBoard. Either the post was against the
"rules" as "off-topic" or it was not. I'm sure that if left, someone would
have posted something to balance Lelia's post, if Mark did not feel up to
the challenge. I'm sorry Mark, but objectively this email does read as if
Lelia has been censored because you disagreed with her political opinion.
It was, most likely a wise decision to take the post off before things got
out of hand (too much off topic balance), however, the copy of your email to
Lelia indicates that Lelia would have been quite justified in a belief that
she had been censored on political grounds. So, even given that the post
was properly removed for off-topic content, your email to Lelia has caused
Lelia a dilemma, and perhaps you need to apologise or at least clarify
things with her.
Gavin.
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Charette [mailto:charette@-----.org]
Subject: RE: [kl] Lelia and the list
Let me be clear:
1) Do I apologize for deleting Lelia's comments on the BBoard?
No - Lelia was a frequent poster and knows the rules. I try to maintain some
sort of balance between off-topic posts and on-topic posts.
2) Do I apologize for the email I sent Lelia which caused her to drop off
both the BBoard and Klarinet?
No. The entire text of the "angrily- worded private e-mail" (Lelia's words)
to Lelia was:
===========
Lelia,
I just read your rant - and it is. The only way to balance it would be to
write what I think, which is almost wholly opposed to what you wrote.
So I'll snip it out, since politics don't really belong there.
Mark C.
===========
Lelia took umbrage at this email and withdrew from the BBoard and Klarinet
immediately.
3) Do I apologize for saying that Lelia "implied that Bush was similar to
Hitler"?
In the sense that there was no way for my intended recipients to check on
the veracity of my statement other than checking with Lelia - yes. In
retrospect, I should not have made that statement, not because I don't
believe what I wrote, but because Lelia's post was unavailable for checking.
4) Did I delete Lelia's post because I disagreed with her?
No. There were (and are, should people want to scan through prior postings
on the BBoard) political comments on both sides of the fence which I let
through since they were short and in some cases quite witty. I have not
consciously deleted posts on the BBoard for other than off-topic postings,
commercials, or "for sale" items. But people can believe what they want.
Mark C.
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