Una, you're a witness ... I tried not to do this ...
The Lyst is open to everyone interested in and everything about Blake's 7, thanks to the most fair and open-minded of listmasters. This means that everyone - *everyone* is going to read stuff that annoys and irritates them, as well as stuff that amuses, interests and delights them. And *everyone* also has to accept that they are going to *be* the irritants and annoyances - without in the least meaning to - at times; everyone's posts are probably unneccessary mailbox baggage to someone on the list, that's the nature of the thing.
I hear and accept that the frivolous interjections annoy sometimes, and that I'm one of those who do it, and some people dislike it. I also agree that sometimes it's just flippancy or frivolousness, a sudden thought I thought I'd share, that some people feel is ill-placed (others don't - I *do* know that - but that doesn't invalidate the feelings of those who do).
BUT ... it's not that simple.
That isn't the only reason we interject humour. Sometimes it's actually a defensive thing. A lot of the serious discussions become heated, and people feel - or think they sees friends - under fire. Neil's comment re Shania notwithstanding, I really *am not* that confident, I sometimes get shaky about whether my serious posts are going to be met in a spirit of acrimony or not, and I'm not sure I'm the only one (Ob B7 - like Vila and his joking on the flight deck).
So I do sprinkle them with 'lighteners' to try and forestall it, or - when a thread seems *to me* to be getting acrimonious - try to head it off with humour. It's not deliberate - it's almost a reflex action - and yes, I understand that it irritates those who don't see the thread as becoming anything like heated (and I'm not for one moment saying they're wrong, this is a very personal thing) and want to keep arguing.
Secondly, some threads *themselves* can start to make me uncomfortable. For instance, a number of the serious ones go into 'fandom'- what other fans think and why they do/don't like or are/are not interested in aspects of the show. The recent hc thread is a good example of this.
Now there is no reason why you or others can't discuss this, but if people in the group being discussed are also people on the Lyst ... well, as I said, I start feeling uncomfortable, a little like a lab rat who hasn't been asked before the electrodes go in. And I just aren't the sort to say "look, DO you mind?" even if I didn't [a] know that you and Neil and others had *no intention* of making me feel like that and [b] agree with Calle's 'nothing's sacred' rule.
So I react with a joke, quite often a nervous or defensive one. Maybe in this case it *is* an (unconscious) case of wishing to - not hijack a thread, but deflect it. And of course no one else knows why I'm doing it (until I thought about it, neither did I :-)).
This is a bit of a ramble, but what I'm trying to say is ... it isn't always as simple as it looks on either side. If you're in a serious discussion and some people seem more drawn to follow one frivolous interjection, it *might* be that they also find *it* more comfortable for their own reasons. Not always. But sometimes.
This is a mailing list, not an ethics class and not debating group where everyone has to prepare beforehand. Some people come here for serious discussion; others come here purely for the fun and frivolity, really dislike the rough-and-tumble and wish it would stop. Some come purely for the action-adventure series they saw, and some people come just to discuss Avon. Replies are usually written in haste and tossed in with the genuine hope (and I do believe this for nearly everyone I've 'met' on the Lyst, past and present) that others will enjoy them.
So do I have an answer? No.
Well, how's about, in the midst of this discussion about chaff, a few cheers for the huge amount of goodly wheat - both deep-and-serious *and* funny-and-frivolous - we all get every day?
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