Out of the ashes... (fwd)

[Eric Crump <wleric@showme.missouri.edu>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 14:42:34 -0500 (CDT)
From: Eric Crump <wleric@SHOWME.MISSOURI.EDU>
To: Moderated WCENTER <wcentr-l@lists.missouri.edu>

From: kearcher@wmich.edu

I haven't posted in some time, but the recent round of flaming has made me
become aware again just how flame-free and productive w-center can be,
especially when I compare it to some of the other "professional" lists I
have subscribed--and quickly unsubscribed--to. 

Attributing flaming to fatigue, stress, whatever, may be accurate, but
anyone who has worked in a writing center has known burn out. Attributing
flaming to ego clash may also be accurate, but again wc folk typically
have learned how to forgo feeding their egos at the expense of the people
with whom they work. 

Flaming, I am suggesting, is not professional behavior and does not belong
on a professional list. I understand the need to vent, but I would hope it
would be done in a more appropriate setting, which for me is more private
than a public list. 


This is a wonderfully productive list, and much of its productivity is
attributable, I think, to the care and respect with which subscribers
treat one another. Flaming will only serve to create silences as people
wait for the heat to cool.

Kurt Kearcher
kearcher@wmich.edu