Re: RTF FAQ? (Was: RARA-AVIS: Why books are over 200 pages)

William Denton (buff@vex.net)
Wed, 9 Sep 1998 11:57:31 -0400 (EDT) On Wed, 9 Sep 1998 RMINOT@aol.com wrote:

: Re Ed's recent definition of hardboiled. Talking about serial
: killers, gender, etc., in the context of hardboiled fiction is
: perfectly acceptable because it's debatable. Isn't that what
: dialogue is all about?

Dialogue's all about two or more people talking, and if two or more
people want to talk about hardboiled fiction here, then that's
perfect. That's why the list was created and that's why we're all
here.

: If you just want to lay down the law about what should be debated on
: rara-avis why don't you find a website that fits your narrow
: definitions and go play there

Eddie's not laying down the law. It was laid down over a year and a
half ago. He was applying it.

: Why inject the sour note in the perfectly calibrated cacophony of
: our good-humored musings?

It didn't seem sour to me, and the note was injected because people
had drifted off into debates about Tom Clancy and whether James
Michener had research assistants. Why is this bad? Because it's
inappropriate!

I used to wonder why the list kept having these eruptions every now
and then, but now I know it's part of the nature of a mailing list.
All I can do is periodically post a reminder about the nature of the
list and encourage people to say to themselves before posting: "Is
this related to hardboiled fiction?" and only send if it is. The list
will work better if everyone does this. ("Related" being left up to
the intelligence of the list-members.)

Now, please, no more Clancy, Michener or anything like that.

Bill

-- 
William Denton | Toronto, Canada | http://www.vex.net/~buff/ | Caveat lector.
            "Let's keep the party polite."

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