On Thu, 17 Feb 2000 vadebonc@montana.edu wrote:
> I have been, for a while now, breeezing over the conversations on
> xmca. After a few interactions initially I am fairly unwilling at this
> point to jump in. My experience has been one that has led to the
> "electronic cold shoulder" and some disrespectful "teasing." It is too
> time consuming to engage when engaging ends in that kind of response.
>
I think much of the "electronic cold shoulder" is an unintentional
by-product of questions of "addressivity" and "legitimacy".
If a message begins with a vocative, some of us feel we're not the
selected next speakers, but then there's no real "next" when turns can
be taken simultaneously, is there?
My legitimacy concern is slightly different from the way it's been
discussed previously on the list. I'm not so much concerned with
been de-legitimated (??) by others but by my own self-censorship.
And in a way this is related to a point in Jennifer's last paragraph.
When I first read this message I didn't think that giving an electronic
warm handshake was up to me or even requested of me.
We often seem to feel that there will be some authority who will take over
the pleasant and unpleasant tasks of list management such as welcoming
newcomers, encouraging or scaffolding initiates (pleasant) and rebuking or
nudging disruptives (unpleasant). However, having this figure of authority
means that some person will have an added weightiness to his or her words
that may not be welcome baggage. Mike may feel constrained to gently
advise words of caution, while some of us have the freedom to say "Oh,
come off it!". Again, whose silence?
-- Rosa
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Mar 07 2000 - 17:54:07 PST