I mean no disrespect when I say that in my view the "enough!" response is unwise and that the delete button is a better choice. It's true that besides the deplorable name-calling and shouting and bickering, there's simply the irritatingly inconveniencing volume of Hemings-TJ message traffic. And it's true, as some who exclaim "enough!" have noted, that students of history, and of Virginia history, are not likely to arrive at paternity certainty, though on both sides there's plenty of paternity certitude. Nevertheless there's also plenty of factual misunderstanding, as Professor Hardwick's survey experiment has been showing. A few weeks ago I was bashed in a history blog for continuing to discuss Hemings-TJ after having publicly argued, some years ago, that other topics are far more important. Fair enough. But in my view Hemings-TJ is also still important for a number of reasons, even though we can't achieve certainty. And I learn things about Hemings-TJ by reading what my friends in VaHist have to say. I too wish that we could completely banish the name-calling, snideness, sarcasm, ugliness, and rudeness that this highly volatile subject brings out, and I wish also that submitters would limit repetition to cases when repetition truly seems sensible (as I will be thinking when I repeat what I wrote on Saturday about the actual radius of the circle of paternity candidates, which I believe involves scientific fact that has gone mainly unrecognized). But in the end, I'd like to repeat what I asserted at the top: the delete button is the best answer to this baby-and-bathwater problem. Thanks. Steve Corneliussen Poquoson, Virginia -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web.com – Enhanced email for the mobile individual based on Microsoft® Exchange - http://link.mail2web.com/Personal/EnhancedEmail ______________________________________ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html