Use the delete button:)

[spm23 at cornell.edu]

Listers,

   I've been a member of this list for just over a year now and I have a 
few comments that I'd like to pass along.

1.) In general, the membership is polite and extremely helpful with both 
information and specimen requests.

2.) A small minority periodically get their hackles up over personal 
comments or opinions.  One solution is to ignore the more controversial 
posts. Another would be to take the view that contentious discussion is 
more interesting than everlasting harmony.

3.) My computer has a trash button and I use it!  I'm no advocate of 
personal attacks or racial slurs, so I don't read them.

4.) I am an advocate of the freedom of speech and that means that I have 
to agree to respect everyone else's right to spout nonsense...so far, 
this personal policy has done me no great harm.

5.) Ron Gatrelle is not a humorless old troll out to pick a fight.  He's 
an extremely knowledgeable taxonomist with an unorthodox sense of humor.  
In my, admittedly limited, interactions with Mr. Gatrelle, he has always 
been the first to apologize or clarify a misunderstanding.

So, while I respect the feelings of all those on the list and appreciate 
the frustration that we all sometimes feel, I suggest that we agree to 
refrain from becoming what we so despise and avoid denouncing each other on 
the public listserv.

Just my opinion.

-Sean

Sean P. Mullen
Ph.D. Candidate
Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
E145 Corson Hall, Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853

 
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