On Tue, 4 May 1999, Presley H. Cannady wrote:

No, we had a five-post discussion that fizzled out and concluded nothing.
The dissenting opinion concluded that the original complaint came the
closest to violating list policy.  The February 1998 edition of the FAQ
does not exclude debate over questions on proper list behavior nor does
it provide any instructions as to where such questions may be directed
an answer.  By the example of the FAQ co-maintainers, the apparant forum
for addressing these issues is on the list itself.

No, it isn't. The list is for the discussion of fanfics, not for personal
squabbles. I've said so many times, and the FAQ says so. (Feb. '98? I
suggest you get yourself a more recent edition.)

This'd be a very good time for people to learn that public replies to
private messages are unwarranted.

Of course, this is "netiquette," which IMHO is a capricious, arbitrary,
and frequently inconsistent unwritten and thereby unofficial code of
conduct which is completely dependent on individual perspectives.
An unwritten rule is no rule at all, and the lack of 
a quantitative consensus makes it even more conspicuously shallow.  Of 
course, a specific stipulation in the FAQ *with* noted approval of the 
list moderators would have the effect of making your supposed "rule" an
actual law of the FFML.

Then let me be clear about this. Private mail should be responded to
privately, unless you have permission from the sender. If you think an
exception is warranted, check with me.

Something to this effect was suppoosedly going to appear in the next FAQ
update (which, BTW, should have been posted a few days ago. Not sure why
it wasn't.)

This thread is ended. Send any followups anywhere you like, as long as
it's not the FFML. And let's get back to the fanfics.

-Tybalt
-the Eternally Grumpy Moderator