Kata Markon

["Jeffrey B. Gibson" <jgibson000 AT attbi.com>]

JFAlward AT aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 12/28/01 5:11:43 PM Pacific Standard Time,
> jgibson000 AT attbi.com writes:
>
> << But Kata Markon is **not** a Mark 101 List. Since, as the Kata Markon 
> List
>  Description notes,  the List is intended to be a forum for the exchange of
> views
>  on matters Markan among **professionals and graduate students** in the 
> field
> of
>  Biblical Studies, and in Markan studies in particular,  it really isn't
>  (ordinarily) the best place to moot  Mark 101 questions.  It is the
> perception
>  that the question on basic parable bibliography was such a question which
> (I'm
>  assuming) engendered the response to which you object.
>   >>
>
> Stating that you believe that the professor's request was inappropriate is
> equivalent to saying that forum members' helpful responses to it are 
> likewise
> inappropriate, which is a slap to their faces.  I think this is an
> unnecessarily oppressive intervention, and is insulting to some forum
> members, and it's not the first time you treated them with condescension.  
> It
> is your list to do with as you please; from my point of view, however, 
> you've
> done very little with it.  By my count, this forum has average only about
> five or six posts a month.  Perhaps if you fostered a more friendly, more
> inclusive, less-elitist attitude on the part of forum members, you might 
> find
> that both the quality and quantity of the Kata Markan posts will increase.
>

At the risk of perpetuating a thread which, since it involves criticism of 
List
Management, should have been posted off list, let me say several things.

1.  You may wish to note that I was the one who **approved** the post to which
Tony objected. Given that its author is a new member, and is subject (as are 
all
new members) to temporary moderation, it first came to me and the other
moderators for review of its "suitability".  So the very fact that you saw it
shows that I did **not** deem it inappropriate.

2.  There has been no attempt by me or the other moderators to quash the 
thread
the post started. So talk of my intervention,  let alone "oppressive"
intervention, does not seem justified -- in this case at least.

3.  If you read carefully my message that you quote above, you should be able 
to
see that **I** never said **I** thought the message to be inappropriate. 
Rather,
I was putting forth an explanation of why I thought Tony had problems with it.
So talk of how **I** slapped the faces of those who offered responses to the 
post
is a non sequitur.

4. Since you have not been privy to all that has gone on behind the scenes to
promote Kata Markon among Markan scholars and other interested parties or to 
any
of the other (many) efforts I have undertaken to get people to join and to 
post
or to respond to posts, you speak out of ignorance when you claim that I have
done very little with the List.

5.  My moderating style on Kata Markon is no different from -- or should I 
say,
no better nor no worse than -- my moderating style on XTalk, another List I 
"own"
and moderate. And yet XTalk flourishes. So it would seem to follow, even if it
were true that I work with a heavy hand, that there are reasons **other 
than** my
style of moderation  for why traffic on Kata Markon is relatively light 
compared
to other Lists.

6. I have no problems with being subjected to criticism. But to avoid sparking
messages which border on flames (as your message seems already to have done), 
I
would recommend that they be sent to me and the other moderators off list. I
would also recommend that criticisms be grounded in facts, not differences in
personality.

Yours,

Jeffrey Gibson
--
Jeffrey B. Gibson, D.Phil. (Oxon.)
1500 W. Pratt Blvd.
          Floor 1
Chicago, Illinois 60626
e-mail jgibson000 AT attbi.com
          jgibson000 AT hotmail.com