Re: Fed up with Eric's Rules

["Chung, Emily" <EmilyC -at- INTERWORLD -dot- COM>]

It seems to me that you have some personal, pent-up anger directed at Eric.
I personally feel that Eric does a great job in regulating and directing the
topics on this list towards technical writing issues of value. If you feel
that Eric is not doing a good job, then fine - go start your own list. But
to try to make someone feel bad for doing their job is just unprofessional,
childish, and unconstructive.

I certainly don't care what your manager thinks of this list - that is so
completely irrelevant that it's funny. And, I don't think that this list is
a "laughing stock of the tech communications community" and everyone who
subscribes to this list should be personally offended by your broad
assumptions that are based on no facts whatsoever.
Just because you may consider yourself bold and strong, doesn't mean that
this list should not protect the sensitivity of all the subscribers and that
is exactly what I feel Eric does. If you are so interested in Mr. Mena's
ideas, then take it offline and show some respect to the owner of this list.

As for asking everyone to leave this list, give me a break. You sound like a
15 year old who is upset about not getting their way.

I can only assume that the list you intend to start (without a moderator?)
will be full of off-topic junk and I intend to avoid it at all costs.


Emily Chung
Manager, Instructional Communications (ICOM)
212-301-2468
emily -at- interworld -dot- com
http://www.interworld.com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Nichols [SMTP:mark2051 -at- YAHOO -dot- COM]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 1998 10:51 AM
> To:   TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Subject:      Fed up with Eric's Rules
>
> For too long, Eric Ray has controlled and restricted information on
> this list.  When people have raised controversial, inflammatory, or
> decisive topics, he has stopped the threads, issued his idiotic little
> ADMIN posts, and removed members who expressed their ideas. Eric might
> not have a responsibility to publish, but he has taken his job as list
> moderator WAY too far.  He has gone beyond merely policing the group,
> to practicing full-scale censorship and  ppression.
>
> A growing number of us are sick and tired of his  fascist rules.
> Under the guise of moderating this group to only talk about technical
> communication, Eric wipes out all dissension and topics which he
> personally feels are irrelevant.  Hey Eric - some of us would like to
> hear those ideas!
>
> In the last three months, Eric has removed scores of members for
> violations of his intolerant rules.  This list has become a laughing
> stock of the technical communications community.  Some writers find
> this list so horrible, they will not even accept posts forwarded from
> the list.  My manager thinks this list is a utter and complete waste
> of time. The woman in the cube next to me dropped off the list almost
> a year ago.  Her reasons "nothing even remotely interesting is ever
> discussed on the list.  That guy controls every word on there. You
> can't post anything without a nasty message from him."
>
> Recently, Eric removed George Mena for his ideas about confrontations
> between men and women - While Mr. Mena's ideas were controversial,
> they were also a legitimate opinion about workplace confrontations.
> Because the sensitives of a few meek readers were offended, we missed
> the opportunity to explore Mr. Mena's ideas.
>
> In a removal a few months back, Eric kicked a member off because he
> made a public attack on Eric's ridiculous warnings about the use of
> sexist language.
>
> In his most recent removal, Eric kicked off Andrew Plato, for his
> biting and hilarious satire of the Ugly Incident thread.  I loved Mr.
> Plato's posts.  They were often the brightest thing on this list.
>
> I am sick and tired of every interesting or remotely controversial
> idea being squashed on this list.  I have another account on this
> list.  I made this "phantom" account so Eric could not kick the "real
> me" off. The fact is, I know that if I made these complaints through
> my "real account" Eric would kick me off in an instant.
>
> So, I am asking everyone to leave this list and begin using the
> listserv newsgroup rather than this mailing list.  The newsgroup is
> bit.listserv.techwr-l.  You will need a news reader to access this
> newsgroup.  You can access the newsgroup through www.dejanews.com.
> Anyone can post to the news group, regardless of being an "approved
> user."  This will allow for a freer exchange of ideas and information.
>
> Moreover, if you use a news reader like Outlook Express or Netscape,
> you can scan the topics and read only those threads that interest you.
> It might be a little more chaotic than this list - but at least we'll
> have the freedom to express our opinions without Eric being our mother
> telling us what we can and cannot read.
>
> Also, there is an effort underway to create a new newsgroup called
> alt.writing.technical.  I have also contacted a few people about
> setting up a web site with a discussion forum.  The people I have
> talked to all agree, this list is a complete joke and needs to be
> abandoned - those that like sanitized crap can remain behind.
>
> I encourage the members of this list who desire a more open and free
> exchange of information to stop using this list and start posting to
> the newsgroup.
> I will keep everyone updated to our activities through other "phantom"
> accounts on this list.
>
> Incidentally, Eric, myself and others hold numerous "phantom" accounts
> on this list.  To be blunt, you cannot stop these message by merely
> kicking me and my colleagues off. We can sign up a virtually unlimited
> number of "phantom" accounts due to the way this list is structured.
>
>
> Signed,
> Technical Communicators for free communication.
>
>
>
>
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