[Air-l] Answering questions on mailing lists & general mailing list notes

[chodge5 at utk.edu]

On Sat, 16 Dec 2006, Jeremy Hunsinger wrote:

> The cost of individual embarassment, I argue is grossly outweighed by  
> the mutual benefit of shared communal knowledge and community  
> building of the current settings.  It is clear to me that from any  
> individual perspective, who might feel individual harm, that the harm  
> will always seem to outweigh the communal good, this is why we have  
> to be wary of the argument of individual harm, it is a variation of  
> the classic 'utility monster' problem of all arguments from utility.   
> If someone feels so significantly more harmed or harmable than  
> others, then the community is left with no response, in pursuit of a  
> shared good defined in utility, than to modify their actions to the  
> period of no harm.  In fact, if harm is an issue, the slippery slide  
> is that we should just close the list, as that is the only way of  
> preventing the harm mentioned.

I wonder if perhaps there's not some benefit to be had from embarrassing
ourselves from time to time in public? I think it reminds us that the
emails are human-generated, and not computer-generated, and may help build
bonds among listmembers -- not just through the causing offense, but
also through the seeking and receiving forgiveness. Strong family ties are
maintained, I would think, by the high level of vulnerability we share.

For general discussion lists (such as this) I think individuals shold be
encouraged to participate and share ideas, without fear of censure. For
lists used to support specific projects (a funded grant, say) *not* having
all communication shared by the entire group can actually be detrimental
to the project's success.

Just my two cents. 

Chris Hodge