Date:  Mon, 8 Dec 1997 19:21:06 -0600
From:  "Timothy C. Frazer" <mftcf[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UXA.ECN.BGU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Posts from non-professionals

I like the idea that you need to pay your dues if you want the list.

On Mon, 8 Dec 1997, Beverly Flanigan wrote:

>   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
>