[sustran] Guidelines for polite discussion

[Paul Barter]

Dear sustran-discuss participants,

As one of the initiators of this list, I have generally been pleased with
the way it is going. Most discussions and debates have been polite,
informative, and generally well-informed.  Most people are staying more or
less 'on topic' which, as you all know, is to discuss sustainable and
people-centred transport in (or relevant to) developing and newly
industrialising countries.   The list welcomes a very wide diversity of
opinion - we do not censor opinions. Vigorous debate and exchange of useful
information is exactly what we want to see.

However, I am a little worried that rude remarks are occasionally being
made which go beyond what is generally acceptable in polite intellectual
discussion.   I know that it is often very tempting to fire off an angry or
sarcastic response.    But I would be very sad if such remarks frightened
anyone away from joining the discussion out of fear of getting a rude
response.  There are about 140 subscribers to this list and I am sure it
would be valuable to hear from more of them.

Unfortunately, rudeness and insults on e-mail lists are common
problems.......BUT we can stop them getting out of hand if we all make a
special effort to be courteous  -- even when we are vigorously disagreeing
with each other.

May I suggest a few guidelines that should help keep things polite:

*   Never reply in anger. Sleep on it and see how it sounds in the morning.

*   The best way to stifle a "flame" (an ungracious, nasty comment) is not
to reply in kind.

*   Do not make any personal attacks.  Address the substance of the
discussion. If you believe that a comment is stupid then by all means point
out what is wrong with it.  But please do not pass judgement on the person
who made the comment, and do not attack or belittle their intelligence,
their credentials or their background. Just point out what you believe is
their error.

*    Avoid using sarcasm if possible. It does NOT work well in this medium.
It almost always causes misunderstandings, anger or hurt feelings.

*    If you feel that someone has been unacceptably rude or made personal
attacks and you have a complaint, can I suggest that you please raise the
issue with the list-owner (at the moment that is me).  In general the
list-owner can be reached at <owner-sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org>.  In
such cases I will usually raise the issue with the 'offender' and remind
them to stick to polite discussion of the issues.  In extreme cases of
repeated offences I reserve the right to remove people from the list. But I
really don't think it will come to that.

I hope this helps.    Happy discussions!

A. Rahman Paul Barter
Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia & the Pacific (SUSTRAN)
c/o Asia Pacific 2000, PO Box 12544,   50782 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Tel: +603 2559122 ext 2240, Fax: +603 253 2361,
E-mail: <tkpb at barter.pc.my>
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which foster accessibility for all; social equity; ecological sustainability;
health and safety; public participation; and high quality of life.