In a message dated 2/24/01 2:09:18 PM Eastern Standard Time, nydersdyner@yahoo.co.uk writes:

<< The Silly List for B7 is Lysator, moderated by Calle (please observe that he is a bloke). Posts to this list cannot be in any way shape or form serious. Anybody caught posting about postmodernism, Marxist theory or Foucauldian analysis of the fabric and colour of trousers will be politely asked to leave. >>

I know you're just being humorous, Fiona (and these descriptions of possible lists genuinely are funny)... but the descriptions you've written show that you're just not getting the point. NO ONE has suggested that the "serious" posters LEAVE Lysator. NO ONE has suggested that Lysator become the "silly" list. The point has been and remains that a few people like Neil and yourself have said that you want the freedom to post serious threads *without be interrupted* by "trivial" or "humorous" posts or by having "your" posts "hijacked" in some way. You've said now that there was never a desire to have private conversations in a corner... but I quoted that directly from, I believe, one of Neil's posts. I'm sure it's out there in the archives. The suggestion has been made that if you truly want to have posts guaranteed not to be hijacked, the ONLY solution is to create a list for just that purpose. It ain't gonna happen here so why make yourself miserable. But no one has said that you must leave or that they want you to leave. As Susan Beth pointed out, trying to imbue the other side of this argument with possessing the same feelings of "ownership" regarding threads is a futile exercise because the same situation doesn't exist on the other side of the issue.

As Carol pointed out, Susan Beth took just that action when the people wanting to have slash and explicit discussion decided they wanted a "safe" place to talk. I was here on Lysator when that originally came about and I remember it well. Calle NEVER said that anyone had to leave Lysator because they wanted to talk about slash. It wasn't against the rules and he supported the people who wanted to have those types of discussion. But a number of posters decided that they didn't want to continue to "offend" some of the other members of the list and, most importantly, they didn't want to continue to be *harassed* about their opinions and beliefs. They wanted to talk "safely." Without interruption, if you will. So, they created their own list and it is going strong today.

Annie