I was a very frequent contributor on an excellent LIST several years ago.
That LIST is now almost non-existent.  I hardly ever even get postings from
there anymore-- most people have abandoned that LIST.

It seems to me that most of us just gave up on it, when about 2 or 3 people
just sort of took it over and started deconstructing every single post.  2
of those guys would oddly write out 500-1000 word responses to almost
anything, arrogantly believing theirs was the final word, picking apart the
posts being made innocently by the posters.  Sometimes the postings sounded
sinister.

I hope the word "deconstructing" does not give anyone the impression I am
anti-theory, or some such nonsense like that.  These were people who, as
Prof. Harris, put it, did not welcome certain kinds of questions or
comments--or certain outlooks.

I certainly hope that is not where this LIST is going.  I feel the pain in
Susan Harris's and in Mark Coburn's comments.

Myself-- I always feel free to ask questions that I know will be quickly,
smartly, and usually quite wisely answered on this LIST.  I am not looking
to this LIST for great effusive dialogue, or that it become less "stodgy."

Probably for most of us, it is not stodgy at all--anymore than, say, MARK
TWAIN A-Z ed. by Kent Rasmussen is a thing that can be labeled "stodgy."
Necessary, and a great source of hard-to-find info, yes;  stodgy, no.

Harold K. Bush, Ph.D
Dept. of English, Saint Louis University