In my personal opinion, there are two major differences between
Mike John and Pam Thorn
Firstly, Pam replied privately (i.e. off-List) to a message from
Mike John which she understandably took exception to.
Subscribers to this List only read it because Mike John repeated
it when he replied publicly (i.e. via the List) using much ruder
language.
Secondly, as a new member, you may not be aware that this is only
the latest example of Mike John's extreme rudeness in messages to
other subscribers, which have also in the past included threats.
His removal from the List was unconnected with the multiple
postings he made, other than the fact they may have been a
'knee-jerk' defensive action on his part in an attempt to justify
his remaining on the List. I receive my messages in Digest form
(batched together) but I still received 12 very lengthy messages,
and for those of us who have to pay telephone charges to access
the Internet, they were very costly to download. I see that
Hazel Eve has already pointed out they were needless, because he
was merely repeating part of the contents of his web-site.
My own view is that the current listowner, Ann Macey, and the
previous listowner, Bryan Morgan, have both exercised
considerable patience and tolerance in allowing him to remain on
the List until now.
May I also add that Mike John has, from time to time, referred on
the List to the fact that he is a member of Gwent FHS. As
Chairman of Gwent FHS, I fully support the action that Ann Macey
has taken in removing him from the MONMOUTHSHIRE List. One of
the pages on our web-site (
http://www.rootsweb.com/~wlsgfhs/Standards.htm ) states that:
<quote>
Gwent Family History Society have formally accepted and endorsed
the following standards as ideals to be aimed for wherever
possible and it strongly recommends them to all its members on
this basis:
...10. treat people on-line as courteously and civilly as they
would treat them face-to-face, not separated by networks and
anonymity.
<unquote>
These standards were also published in our Society Journal so
that all our members could read them and take note.
Hopefully now, as you say, Civility rules OK, and we can once
more use this List for its proper purpose, in peace and harmony.
Geoff Riggs, Chepstow, South Wales
riggs(a)one-name.org
Chairman and Webmaster of
Gwent Family History Society
http://welcome.to/Gwent.FHS
----- Original Message -----
From: "John & Val Turner" <val(a)mumsmadhouse.freeserve.co.uk>
To: <MONMOUTHSHIRE-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2000 11:25 PM
Subject: [Mon] Mr John/Ms Thornbury
I wasn't going to get drawn into this thread but.....
I am a new member of the list and I already appreciative the help
given by Mr John and Ms Thornbury, both of whom clearly
contribute a geat deal of knowledge, research and time to
novices such as myself. But I am sure others have found the tone
of the dialogue between them as unsettling as I have - this is
after all a list set up with the objective of mutual cooperation
and assistance.
Having read the mail between them it seems to me that neither
emerges blameless from the exchange and it saddens me that an
interesting pastime should be marred by rudeness between other
members. However, we all do and say things from time to time that
we regret or are inappropraite. To remove either or both from the
list seems to me a loss to other members. I suggest the listowner
just ask both parties to make any future comments and requests
politely (regardless of provocation).
As for Mr John's multiple postings to the list - well it wasn't
clear whether the listowner regarded them as a more serious abuse
than the rudeness (it wasn't for me - civility rules OK). I guess
they were a bit of a nuisance but as a newcomer researching in
just the villages related to the postings I have put them on one
side to look at later (as I do with many other postings that are
not immediately relevant - surely they just come with the
territory of a forum such as this).
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