On Thursday 19 Feb 2009, Anurag wrote:
I haven't read your message, but you clearly do not want to stop being controversial after repeated requests. I would suggest that you show some restraint.
Request members not to contribute to this flamewar, and only participate if they have something meaningful to say. No more mails from Dinesh Joshi will be accepted for the time being. Dinesh, please complain to linuxers-owner@mm.glug-bom.org if you think this is wrong.
May I ask why DAJ has been put on moderation?
He is making valid, cogent arguments in response to queries (and flames) that other list members have specifically been addressing to him. You and I may or may not agree with his point of view, but it is as valid or invalid as any other. To me, at least, DAJ comes across as a person holding a currently politically unpopular viewpoint, which has been repeatedly questioned, and making reasonable arguments for that POV. He does NOT come across as a person trumpeting a POV without provocation just for the sake of controversy.
If you want him to shut up I'd suggest moderating everyone in this thread (including me), since we are the ones who have been providing reasons for DAJ to continue the thread. Each of his mails has been in response to personal comments about his POV or his personality -- if that were directed at me I wouldn't stay shut either, and I'm renowned as a thoughtful, moderate contributor to mailing lists ;)
I'm not a great fan of DAJ (I've had differences of opinion with him on this list in the past), but I do believe that the moderation is an excessive action to contain him. Consequently I'm inviting Mr Joshi to send me any mails that he wants to post to the list, which I shall sporadically forward to the list (until I'm put on moderation too). I shall also be glad to forward his responses to the RMS-style mails that have been questioning the validity of his sentence structure and choice of words to refer to an entity.
Of course, if DAJ's moderation is because his POV is politically incorrect and not acceptable to the utopian homogeneous society that this list is aiming for, I have nothing more to say except to wish the list owners the best of luck.
Regards,
-- Raju