RE: Moderating and Administrative Thoughts

["Peter V. Picerno" <ppicerno@utmem.edu>]

	Still other readers have expressed a concern to me that
	sometimes the postings on the list are too self-promoting of a
	given correspondent's commercial business.  This is a harder
	area for your moderator, though again liblicense-l strives to
	include as much as possible, even press releases where they
	appear to serve a useful and informative role.

Many thanks to Ann Okerson for the entirety of this very thoughtful and,
indeed, decorous, posting. As to the paragraph cited above, we are all
rational professionals and can thus distinguish between marketing hype (in
whatever veild forms it appears) and 'real' arguments of merit. At the
same time, postings which are self-promoting would invite direct
challenges from other members of this list which is also a great advantage
since we, the consumers -- or potential consumers -- can generate frank
and open discussions about the products we are meant to consume. These
discussions can open paths of exploration of issues which might not
otherwise exist and which might actually have some effect on the products
offered to us. In my personal opinion, I feel that we, the members of this
list, should feel free to challenge (in a positive and constructive way)
those products with the intent of engaging their designers and creators in
dialogue with the library community. If such a forum can exist -- and it
may very well develop some tensions from time to time -- where (to quote
an old adage) is the bad part??

Peter Picerno