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<!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial">I’d like to second Dmitri’s
concerns (see below). The Society’s website stipulates that posts to this forum should </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia;
color:#131313">“adhere to standards of courteous professional discourse.” Much
of what ends up in my inbox lately falls rather short of this mark: persons insinuating
(repeatedly) that anyone who disagrees with them is foolish, incompetent, or
unmusical; sneering insults lobbed at entire swathes of the discipline; gratuitous
(and often off-topic) negative stereotyping; smug pontification; bombastic
axe-grinding; and so on. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia;
color:#131313">Granted, all this comes from a *vanishingly*
small, highly vocal minority. But I find it disconcerting nonetheless. It’s not
“courteous,” it’s often only barely “professional” in content, and, in its
commitment to provoking dissent only to shout it down, doesn’t strike me as the
kind of “discourse” that this list was meant to foster.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Arial;
mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia;color:#131313">Let this count as my vote for more
stringent moderation and, if need be, a greater empowering of the moderators. Emails
not meeting</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Arial;
mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia;color:#FF6600"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:
13.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia">a basic level of<span style="color:#FF6600"> </span><span style="color:#131313">civility should be blocked;
posters who use this list as a pulpit for hurling broad, self-aggrandizing disparagements
should be banned. Others may disagree, but I do not think we should let bullies
rule the roost out of a misplaced fear of curtailing the “open exchange of ideas.”
Are we really at the point where someone will have to go to the trouble of
creating a parallel list just so colleagues can discuss and debate their ideas in
a climate of mutual respect?</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(19, 19, 19); font-family: Arial; ">Regards,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(19, 19, 19); font-family: Arial; ">SM</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#131313" face="Arial"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; "><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px; ">-----------------------------------------------------------</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px; ">Seth Monahan</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px; ">Assistant Professor of Music Theory</span></font></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px; ">Managing Editor, <i>Theory and Practice</i></span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px; ">Eastman School of Music</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px; ">26 Gibbs St.</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px; ">Rochester, NY, 14604</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px; ">(585) 274-1556</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px; "><a href="mailto:smonahan@esm.rochester.edu">smonahan@esm.rochester.edu</a></span></font></div></span></font></p></div><br><div><div>On Jul 15, 2012, at 3:04 PM, <a href="mailto:smt-talk-request@lists.societymusictheory.org">smt-talk-request@lists.societymusictheory.org</a> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite">I just want to remind everyone that "Dmitri [Tymoczko]" and "Dimitar [Ninov]" are two entirely separate people -- one at Princeton, one at Texas.<br><br>I haven't been contributing to the list much, recently, because I worry that the level of discussion is deteriorating. There seems to be a lot more shouting and a lot less scholarship than there was a few years ago. It's gotten to the point where I've been contemplating starting a new list with a much more rigorous moderation policy.<br><br>DT<br><br>Dmitri Tymoczko<br>Professor of Music<br>310 Woolworth Center<br>Princeton, NJ 08544-1007<br>(609) 258-4255 (ph), (609) 258-6793 (fax)<br><a href="http://dmitri.tymoczko.com/">http://dmitri.tymoczko.com</a><br></blockquote></div><br></body></html>