Mellotronists

In a message dated 11/18/2007 12:25:25 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
jonesalley@... writes:

 
 
 
Folks, I don't have a dog in this fight. It's none of my business  who Don 
invites or permits into his group. All I am saying is  that we all clicked on a 
button that said "I AGREE" when we joined this  group.  What we agreed to, 
among other things, was that the list  moderator had final say on who was in the 
group.  It is neither legal nor  gentlemanly to attempt to unilaterally 
renegotiate the terms of a contract  after the fact.  If you didn't agree, you 
shouldn't have clicked the  button to join.  If you didn't read the terms before 
you clicked the  button, how exactly is that Don's fault?  
 
I joined the original list in late 1998 or early 1999 and I moved over to  
the Yahoo! Group when the old list was forced to shut down.  Does my  longevity 
(which is easily exceeded by many members) actually confer on me the  right to 
make decisions?  If you invite someone into your house for  years, does there 
really come a time where they have any right to make  decisions as to who 
else you invite in or are they still a guest?  Remember, we have had several very 
interesting and prominent people in  the music community leave this list in 
the past due to the juvenile pissing  contests that have happened.  What's more 
important, being able to have  pissing contests or being able to collect more 
people who can contribute to  THE CARE, FEEDING, AND PRESERVATION OF 
MELLOTRONS?  
 
I come to these conclusions by being the "owner" of a few Yahoo! Groups,  and 
who has had to make the same type of decision a few times myself.   I'll be 
real blunt about it, if I think somebody is stirring up shit in my  groups just 
for the sake of stirring up shit, I will lower the hammer on them  fast and 
hard.  It's my decision and I don't have to account for it to  anyone else.  
They all clicked the "I AGREE" button affirming that they  understand it is my 
decision.  If people want to start another group,  there is nothing wrong with 
that.  But get off Don's case, none of us  know what may have transpired 
behind the scenes, and it's his decision to make  and that's that.  You are welcome 
to appeal and try to persuade him to  make a different decision, but if he 
chooses not to, those are the terms that  we all agreed to.  It's not like Mike 
has been disappeared from the  planet.  Everybody on the list has his email 
address and can contact him  all day every day if they so choose.
 
Perhaps, instead of taking Don to task for making a decision we all  agreed 
that he had the right to make, it might be wiser to privately prevail  upon 
Mike to contact Don and apologize to him, and to ask Don for guidelines  as to 
what is permissible in his group and see if he might be permitted  back if he 
agrees to adhere to those guidelines.  Don can still refuse,  but it's the only 
proper course of action to take as far as Mike's membership  status is 
concerned. 
 
Please notice that I am not taking sides.  I have not criticized  Mike and I 
have not praised Don, nor have I criticized Don and praised  Mike.  I am only 
pointing out that we all affirmed that it was Don's list  when we joined and 
that we agreed to the publicly posted terms.  It's  time to man up and live up 
to our agreements.
 
There is one good thing about this recent furor.  It shows how  passionate 
and how enthusiastic we all are about things Mellotronic.   Perhaps we should 
all step back and realize how lucky we are to have found  this group of fellow 
travelers, and that we all need to treat the group with  the respect it 
deserves instead of taking it for  granted.






 
 
Well said! This makes sense to  me.




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