Hello all,

Several people have recently suggested that we cut off some of the recent discussions on VA-HIST. I assume that these messages were general statements to list members meant to persuade rather than a call to me as the moderator.  Nevertheless, I thought it prudent to reply from my perspective.

I have generally followed the modus operandi of my esteemed colleague and former moderator Brent Tarter, only filtering messages in extreme circumstances.  There have been just a few instances where I have done so in the past, and generally I have directly emailed the parties involved and asked for minor revisions to their posts in order to keep the peace.

I have found a number of the posts regarding Dred Scott, command responsibility, Jefferson and slavery, and various other matters interesting and certainly within the bounds of the list's purpose.  I will admit that there has been an undertone of sarcasm and general snarkiness in some posts that seemed uncalled for, especially when aimed at another list member.

I do not wish in any way to limit our discussions, but I concur that we could all pay more attention to the tone of our messages. 

All the best,

Gregg Kimball, moderator

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