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I was on the road in the last few days, cut off from the Internet. This will explain my silence. I agree with all the people that believe Stevan's interventions on this list (and elsewhere) have been invaluable. Sometimes infuriating, but invaluable nonetheless. I have long debated against some of Stevan's theses, but I have learnt a lot from these discussions. The point of my earlier remarks was absolutely not to push Stevan out of this list. This would be total nonsense. The point was a worry about a confusion of roles. As Jan Velterop states it below, doing so ended up in "not making it easy on himself" for Stevan. I had not thought about JaNs, BBC-inspired, host/moderator distinction, but I find it interesting and useful. It would certainly clarify Stevan's position on this list while not cramping his inimitable style, and it would free him from negative reactions, especially when these have been the result of possible technical delays rather than intent (a reference to my own, inaccurate, outburst that seems to have started this whole discussion). In conclusion, what I was arguing about was not about a vote of confidence (or nonconfidence) with regard to Stevan. I was arguing in favour of a simple clarification of roles. What Stevan has constantly striven to do ultimately strikes me as very difficult and ultimately contradictory: attempting to be as fair as possible, as Stevan has constantly tried to do, while simultaneously adopting a highly polemical style of intervention may not be mutually exclusive stances in theory, but, in practise, they are damn hard to maintain under a single brain. Jean-Claude Guédon Le lundi 13 octobre 2008 à 08:22 +0100, Jan Velterop a écrit : Apologies for the lateness of my comments on this matter. Stevan has my full support. He is fully entitled to post on this list what he wants and to withold submissions if he deems that right. Those who hold the view that a list such as this one should - or indeed can - be run 'objectively' and according to some pseudo-democratic rules are, frankly, a bit naïve. Those who don't like Stevan's judgement with regard to acceptance of submissions can always start their own list. That said, Stevan hasn't made it easy on himself, combining the task of moderator with that of host. Other lists separate these roles, and he may wish to consider drafting someone in to help him run the list and do the same (Stevan being the host; someone else being the moderator, I would have thought, given the definitions of the roles, see below). The definitions that, for instance, the BBC uses for the two roles are along the following lines: A host's job is to encourage interesting discussions and to help resolve disagreements. They post regularly on the lists, start discussions or reply to questions. Hosts do not reject messages. A moderator's job is to reject messages that break the `House Rules'. Messages will not be rejected for any other reason. Moderators do not post messages on the lists. Among the BBC `House Rules' are the following (there are more). Messages are rejected that ...Are racist, sexist, homophobic, sexually explicit, abusive or otherwise objectionable ...Contain swear words or other language likely to offend ...Break the law or condone or encourage unlawful activity. ...Are considered to be off-topic ...Are considered to be `spam', that is posts containing the same, or similar, message posted multiple times. Apart from the possible problem of finding such help, the only difficulty of my suggestion that I can foresee is perhaps dealing with the last house rule mentioned. But then again, Stevan is free to set his own house rules. Jan Velterop Jean-Claude Guédon Université de Montréal