Everyone,

VA-HIST got underway about seven years ago. At the time, and since, we have
specified that subscribers must follow the standards of "netiquette." These
include not only the usual expectations of civilty but also other standards
unique to the Internet, especially a prohibition on posting another's
private message to the list.

At the beginning, we were warned by other list owners to watch carefully
that the list not become the personal mouthpiece for individuals with a
particular agenda or particular point of view. With some 700 subscribers,
postings from such persons become the equivalent of a loud personal argument
occurring in a public place. When that happens a list loses subscribers, as
has happened in the past to VA-HIST. For the health of the list, we were
advised to be prepared to step in when such situations came up.

Elizabeth Roderick has taken the primary responsibility for maintaining
VA-HIST's standards for netiquette, but she is supported by all of us who
have a stake in the healthy continuation of VA-HIST. It is difficult to
perceive persons who are still posting messages to the list as suffering
under a gag order, but we do sometimes privately request subscribers to
refrain from actions that do not serve the list. What we do is no more than
a newspaper requiring certain standards for letters to be published on the
editorial page, and newspapers also cut off discussions of certain topics
that threaten to monopolize the correspondence section.

No one can say that the Jefferson issues did not get a thorough airing on
VA-HIST during the past several days. If you look back through the archives
of VA-HIST, you will also discover that these issues have been debated
almost annually since the list's beginnings.

Our purpose is not to stifle discussions or to prevent anyone from posting.
If it were, why would we offer an unmoderated list? Our efforts are to
protect VA-HIST's health, and what we do is based on several year's
experience with these situations.

Please, have a care, and let's get back to Virginia history.

John

John T. Kneebone [log in to unmask]
Director, Publications and Educational Services
Library of Virginia http://www.lva.lib.va.us

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