[Rhodes22-list] a new world is coming to the rhodes22 list

[Mary Lou Troy]

OK. This seems like a perfect example of the problem. Here I've been 
spending the last few weeks trying to decide if I should bother 
staying on the list, deleting most of the posts without reading or 
just give up.  And here it turns out is another local Rhodie that I 
know nothing about because instead of welcoming him to the list a 
couple of months ago we attacked him for grumbling about the 
political content. (I say "we" because I didn't stick up for him or 
her at the time which I should have done as a long standing member of 
this group - it seems like it's gotten so that I'm afraid to try)

So before I slam the door on my way out, Mr/Ms Metaphor, would you 
care to introduce yourself? (Hint: use a new subject line) I can tell 
by your references to St Michaels and Eastport that we have covered 
some of the same territory. There are quite a few Rhodes 22s on the 
Chesapeake. Where is yours? We are in Rock Hall but usually make St. 
Michael's, Annapolis & Eastport, Knapps Narrows and the Choptank 
sometime in the course of a season.

And Michael and John, thanks for taking this on. I've been on this 
list for more than 10 years. While we have always been an opinionated 
and somewhat testy bunch, it seems to me that there has been a 
noticeable deterioration in the tone of the list in the last couple 
of years. What might have once passed for passionate opinion now 
seems angry, defensive, mean-spirited and polarizing with a lot of 
holier than thou, condescending language being used. I tend to read 
the first line before deleting a political post and I rarely see 
anything that indicates respect for someone else's viewpoint. I 
believe elle once called it schoolyard bullying and that seems about 
right to me. I think we have lost a number of Rhodes-owning members 
because of it. I find myself wondering why I haven't joined them. I 
guess it's because I've met so many of the members of this list in 
person and know them to be a fine lot. I guess I've been hoping that 
now that the election is over all of this would subside but it 
certainly seems like things are only intensifying judging by the 
quantity of postings that I am deleting daily. I don't have any 
solutions. There is a line in the charter: "You earn respect on the 
list by your postings and trying to help each other, you cannot 
demand it."  It seems to me that we have strayed far from that and I 
think that it's a sad situation.

Mary Lou
1991 R22  Fretless
Rock Hall, MD


At 11:55 PM 12/30/2008, you wrote:


>MichaelMeltzer wrote:
> >
> > 2)      The problem is the people using "mean sprite" , pounding on
> > people,
> > people on ego trips that they must change the world by changing the view
> > of
> > the members, being a PITA
> >
>
>Thank you.  When I made a couple of outrageously negative posts this summer
>towards the the posters who have been challenged the past couple of days
>(weeks), I had hoped that the tone of the "bar" might ameliorate a bit, so
>that sailors without agendas might participate in a forum about the Rhodes
>(one of which I own) and about sailing in general (of which I sail/race on
>two other boats); neither of which happened.  The vast majority of posts
>have been about politics, (of which I have my own views) but don't factor
>into my sailing. I sail boats to get away from that stuff, and the basic
>conversation about sailing departed this list a while ago.  Now,
>occasionally there is a sailing post, (which I've read) but that is probably
>one-in six-to-ten threads (conservatively) and that is not enough to qualify
>as a sailing forum, especially one dedicated to a specific style of
>sailboat. Simply saying "search  the archives" does not always answer the
>question asked, and although it does make the old timer on the list feel
>superior to the newbs... it sends them away with a bad feeling about Rhodes
>sailors.  Couple that with the overtly political bent of some of the most
>verbal posters, and the impression perceived is that this list does not want
>nor welcome anyone who wishes to discuss sailing or sailboats, or any other
>subject in a non-confrontational manner.
>
>I'd like to learn more about tweaking and sailing the Rhodes22, sailing the
>Chesapeake Bay, and other waters, wherever they are.  I like reading about
>trips, techniques and trivia, and I don't enjoy one-sided (right or left),
>soapboxes. More sailing, and I promise that once the mid-Atlantic sailing
>season begins again, I'll post some of my sailing adventures, gunkholes,
>race reports, etc,... if anyone is interested.  If all people want is
>political diatribe, I will not engage, not out of weakness perceived by the
>four or so posters who seem to "own" the "virtual" bar, but because I
>probably would not engage you in a fruitless discussion in a real pub.
>
>I belong to other forums, and none is less topic-oriented as this one has
>become in the last two years, and although I lurk for the most part, rather
>than actively post simply for the sake of posting to hear myself in print, I
>would like to see the Rhodes22 forum be more than what it aspired to be.  To
>that end, I will refuse to engage in useless argumentation, ad nauseum, with
>posters who have only their agendas, and limited interest in sailing issues.
>As I said before, there are other forms that are geared toward politics,
>where the type of argumentation that seems to have hijacked this list is
>welcomed.
>
>Some might say that the list is best as what it is now, but looking over the
>archives in the past two months, I have to disagree.  There was a lot
>contributed by a lot of contributers, few of which bother to post now.  The
>value is going down, and the responsible parties (of which I will include
>myself) are to blame.  Sailors' bars more than naught talk sailing.  This
>one rarely does. Stop in the MYRC or Carpenter Street in St. Michaels on a
>Wednesday night, and see how much talk is about non-sailing issues. Go to
>Oxford, Maryland or East Port, Annapolis, and try to pick a political
>fight-- you'll either be ignored or called a derogatory name, then ignored,
>and if you persist, someone (or a group of someones) will you show you the
>way out of the bar.
>
>Let's get 'da List' back to a sailing list.  :)
>
>
>
>--
>View this message in context: 
>http://www.nabble.com/a-new-world-is-coming-to-the-rhodes22-list-tp21226189p21227319.html
>Sent from the Rhodes 22 mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
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