Va-Hist is a free online electronic forum that the Library of Virginia,
a public agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia, provides for discussion
of Virginia history and of the sources and research strategies that
people employ to interpret and understand that history.

Brent Tarter of the Library of Virginia staff serves as moderator of the
list but does not view or screen messages. The computers automatically
distribute all submissions directly to all subscribers. Private messages
or comments that are not intended for the entire list should be sent
directly to the intended recipient, not to Va-Hist.

We encourage wide-ranging discussions and believe in freedom of speech.

We also believe, and have had it demonstrated by experience, that
dispassionate discussion and respect for differences of opinion and for
the people who hold them promote thoughtful analysis and learning, and
that angry words and personal attacks on other participants in the
discussion do not promote the objectives for which Va-Hist exists and
tend to alienate people rather than to persuade them.

We do not and will not censor messages or subscribers for what they
believe and write about Virginia history. We do not and cannot require
that people always be accurate or wise or even knowledgeable. We should
all be ready to learn and willing to share.

We will repeat some of the standards of decorum by which civilized
disagreements of opinion and intellectual inquiry should be carried on
because they promote honest discussion:

Be courteous and avoid personal references.

Be concise.

Avoid unnecessary allusions to contemporary political and social
concerns when discussing the past because that may attract attention
away from the point under discussion and may promote arguments rather
than temperate discussion.

Do not overfill daily digests by replying to long messages or to digests
without deleting unessential text. That creates problems in other
people's e-mail accounts and makes it difficult to find new messages
interspersed in long old ones.

Refrain from posting messages that contain little or nothing that
contributes to the discussion.

Remember that several hundred other people are reading your messages.
Think before you write.

When the moderator or other members of the Va-Hist community complain
that some subscribers are abusing the canons of civility and when
subscribers become disgusted with the behavior of other Va-Hist
subscribers, it is incumbent on all people involved to refrain from
antagonizing one another. It may be wise for people who wish to continue
a discussion that has provoked such reactions to collect the e-mail
addresses of the other participants and continue the discussion among
themselves and not out in the public venue where they may antagonize
other people.

The computer software that supports Va-Hist allows the moderator the
option of intercepting and screening any or all messages before they are
distributed. I do not wish to do that, both because I do not want to be
perceived as a censor and also because I do not have time to serve as a
hall monitor during our heated discussions. Please remember that my
occasional requests for civility and conciseness are for the benefit of
free discussion within the Va-Hist community as a whole and therefore
for honest intellectual discussion in an atmosphere of free speech and
respectful disagreement.

Brent Tarter
The Library of Virginia
[log in to unmask]

Please visit the Library of Virginia's Web site at
http://www.lva.virginia.gov

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