[sustran] Reminders & explanations about SUSTRAN-DISCUSS (was Re: PRT proposal for Delhi convinces Chief Minister)

[Paul Barter]

Some points arising from the PRT discussion and from the message below from
Daryl Oster in particular:

1. Sustran-discuss is not managed by Eric Britton. Eric is simply a member.
I am one of the two co-managers. The other is Karl Fjellstrom.

2.  Please refrain from making personal attacks on sustran-discuss. This
includes making insinuations about anyone's motives for holding any
particular viewpoint. Such suggestions quickly provoke flame wars. Karl and
I send private warnings about this from time to time but we don't always
notice every example. So if anyone feels wronged, please send us a private
email via sustran-discuss-owner at list.jca.apc.org

3.  Sustran-discuss is a semi-open forum. When posting, please be aware that
your message can potentially be seen by anyone (via the mirror on
yahoogroups or via the JCA networks archive). However, you can only post if
you actually sign up to the group. This is important to keep out spam and
also makes it easier for us to stay on topic (see below). But it sometimes
causes oddities when people cc sustran-discuss along with many other
recipients. If those others are not members, they will often find their
replies rejected, which they may find confusing or irritating. This has been
happening a bit in this PRT discussion. It can't be helped.

4. What is "On Topic"? The stated focus of sustran-discuss is "...
people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on
developing countries (the 'Global South'). Sustran-discuss began in 1997
with a focus on Asia but has now become the main English-language discussion
forum on urban transport issues in developing countries."  There is a lot of
room for interpretation on this and we are not too strict. But we send a
reminder from time-to-time if the conversation starts to seem relevant only
to high-income North America, Australasia, Europe or even the very rich bits
of Asia. The PRT topic is fine so long as we don't completely lose sight of
the geographical focus of sustran-discuss.

5.  We have a size limit on attachments. This may be a little out of date
but the intention is that a slow internet connection or a tight size limit
on your inbox should not prevent anyone from using sustran-discuss.
Sometimes we make exceptions for attachments that are only just over the
limit. But messages with very large attachments or images will get held up
by the filtering system and then most likely be rejected. The sender gets a
message inviting them to trim the message.

Sincerely,

Paul Barter
Co-manager of sustran-discuss

On 4 May 2011 01:37, E T 3 Space Travel On Earth tm <et3 at et3.com> wrote:

> Eric,
>
> It is easy for you to beat up your version of PRT (what PRT used to
> be) when you control access to the ring!  Why do you filter out posts
> that make credible fact based arguments?  If you continue to limit
> accessibility to your forums you will continue to attract a barrage
> when a crack appears (as with the "poll").  If you have credible
> arguments to make why not debate me on your forum?  Is it possible
> that your standard of living (and the ability to drive your car around
> and fly in jets to train and bus conferences around the world) depends
> on your continuing support of bus and train modes?  If so, i can
> understand why you filter out your credible competition, and put up
> your paper dragon to slay in front of your audience.
>
>
> --
> Best regards,
>
> Daryl Oster
>
<snip>