Date:  Mon, 8 Dec 1997 17:32:13 -0500
From:  Beverly Flanigan <FLANIGAN[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]OUVAXA.CATS.OHIOU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Posts from non-professionals

  I part company with Bethany to some degree; I'd like to encourage
  serious students to join the list (three or four of my own are on it),
  as long as they do the basic library dig first before asking questions,
  and as long as their comments are relevant and non-flaming. Steve
  Nolden, for example, should not be urged off the list; his comments on
  Black English were honestly motivated and relevant to the (sadly)
  recurring debate here about accurate and non-stereotyped
  representations of that dialect (if a bit too passionately expressed).
  He at least knows that invariant "be" is not applied willy-nilly but is
  rule-governed, and that Black English does indeed mark tense.

  As one who has of late been flamed by some of the most uninformed and
  non-researching participants on the list, I heartily second Tom Clark's
  suggestions for changing the list. About a year ago Dennis Preston
  suggested closing the list to dues-paying members of ADS only and was
  shot down for being "elitist." Perhaps two lists would be a reasonable
  compromise, with people welcome to join the moderated list if they
  (like Greg) are serious about learning from each other instead of
  simply putting out monologues.
                      Beverly Flanigan
                      Ohio University