Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

Dear All,

The present moderators of this list have made the quite conscious decision
NOT to practice "benign dictatorship". We are firm believers in democracy.
There are other, more "academic" lists around, that are either very narrow
in focus, or have managed to form a chorus of one voice, which happens to be
that of the owner or moderator. This list intends to do neither. While we
are dedicated to the study of the Biblical Hebrew language, we are not a
list for professional linguists only. We firmly believe that the study of
language may and should include that language's historical, social and
cultural background, and that these are all legitimate topics for
discussion. We welcome both professionals and non-professionals, people with
little knowledge, and those with academic training in related fields. We
allow "non-conventional" theories and ideas to be sounded, and hope that
free discussion will benefit all. We refuse to practice censorship of ideas,
only insisting that discussion remains civil and to-the-point. This may seem
"unprofessional" to some, but this is what we believe. 

Lists come and lists go, and in the end it is the voice of the people that
counts. Those who feel that a different type of list is needed are welcome
to create one. You will notice that we have not even stemmed those messages
which call people to leave the list. It is not a question of either/or. Many
of us are members of several lists, and use different lists for different
purposes. It is our hope that many of our members will still find B-Hebrew
useful, but if not, we all have other things to do. 

Kol Tuv,

Yigal Levin
Co-moderator, b-hebrew
 


-----Original Message-----
From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of John M. Linebarger
Sent: Monday, May 25, 2009 9:45 PM
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [b-hebrew] A new list is definitely needed


I'd like to add my voice to the chorus contemplating the creation of a new
list.  IMHO, b-hebrew has drifted from its original intent.  It has now
largely become the "Use and misuse semitic languages to argue about Biblical
history" list instead of the "Ask questions about Biblical Hebrew language
and syntax" list.  B-greek is a wonderful example of a list that has
maintained its original focus on Biblical Greek language and syntax, largely
due to the firm but benign dictatorship of its moderator, Carl Conrad.

So let me challenge the moderators.  Are you willing to exercise some
discipline and return to the original conception of the list?  Or should
some of us simply form a new list (called "Reformed B-Hebrew" or
"B-Hebrew-Language") and switch our list memberships accordingly?

John M. Linebarger, PhD (Computer Science)
Albuquerque, NM, USA
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