Allan Balliett wrote:
I'm reposting this post because it cuts to the heart of the globalnews
issue. I think there is some very good advice here and I hope it will
be taken to heart. -Allan
The list and it's effectiveness is in the sense of building community
amongst the list members. If a few hundred members of the list cannot
show
tolerance to each other, and allow that the opinions of other members
have
merit, we may as well all go home to the weapons of mass distraction and
forget about trying to make the world a better place.
James Hedley
We can all individually subscribe to the NYT, globalnews, as many
newsletters as we like, and individually preen ourselves on how the
views of the commentators and the politicians and the spin doctors
coincide with our own - and then look around and wonder why the world is
going to hell in a bucket!
For me, a thing that holds my interest in BDNOW! is 'interaction', that
is, the way we respond to each other on the world and our own news of
the day whether it be Merla's roadway weeds or BD or RS or CT or the war
with Iraq we all apparently agree is unwarranted but looks to happen
just the same.
For those who want another list, go ahead and do it. Restrict its topic
to biodynamics and nothing else, impose your own type of censorship. At
the same time count the number who join, the number of posts you
receive, the length of time people stay, and rationalise it all with the
hours and heartache you put into the running of the thing. When it fails
BDNOW! will still be here, uncensored, interacting on all manner of
topics, providing an invaluable service to the members of this
community, and will welcome you back with open arms.
BDNOW! is not just a list, not a group of disassociated individuals - it
is a community of people with common beliefs and targets, common and
uncommon ideas, a community interacting to benefit all who care to
listen. Chopping off the flow of information from any direction could
signify the beginning of the end for BDNOW! - today Jane's information,
tomorrow explorations into something else unconnected directly with
biodynamics - and it will ultimately lapse into the homogeneity and
humdrum-ity so evident in the mainstream media and the majority of
internet mailing lists.
Allan Balliett does a really fantastic job with BDNOW! - Let's hear it
for Allan!!! :) - one of his major strengths being that he DOES NOT
censor incoming information, does not impose his own standards, likes or
dislikes on contributors, but allows the conversations and discussions
flow unimpeded this and that way - and we all benefit!
Why can't you, the detractors, do the same?
Those messages you don't want to know about, or read about right now
this instant, they're your problem, not mine or James' or Allan's or
many more of BDNOW!'s members. So put filters in so they don't become
(to you) so much useless clutter in your inbox but divert into folders
you may read or destroy at your leisure. It only takes a few seconds to
destroy one or a thousand emails.
roger