[mou] the GUIDELINES business
Sonnen, Kiki
Kiki.Sonnen@CO.RAMSEY.MN.US
Thu, 25 Mar 2004 19:06:51 -0600
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I can understand both sides. It is a little irksome to get dozens of alerts
that someone has spotted a robin or red-wing black bird. It's also
irritating to get several requests for the location of the Smew or Brant,
when the directions have already been given a dozen times earlier. On the
other hand, more and more people are just getting interested in birding and
that's a good thing. You can't expect beginners to know what is rare or
unusual. So when someone asks a naive question or makes a report on a "trash
bird," people should not insult them or get on a high horse waiving rules,
restrictions and standards. After all, rules are really just guidelines, and
guidelines are merely suggestions, as we learned from Pirates of the
Caribbean. Meanwhile, those that take comfort in proposing, studying and
working on rules should not be belittled either. They are trying to do their
best to provide a service we all want and that's a fast and up to date way
of spreading information about Birds. Maybe we can all agree that we would
prefer to read e-mails about birds than e-mails bickering at one another.
Although I would be curious to know when someone finally tells Mike
Hendrickson to go to hell. Just kidding, Mike!
-----Original Message-----
From: Houghton, Timothy D. [mailto:tdhoughton@stcloudstate.edu]
Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2004 6:35 PM
To: mou-net@cbs.umn.edu
Subject: [mou] the GUIDELINES business
Personally, I like Hendrickson's long response and Conrad's short. They make
the most sense to me--broad and reasonable.
I also sympathize with Christine Olson--she received a particular response
that was punkish and asinine.
There's an anal mentality that likes to limit and control. (Understand that
I'm not referring to any specific individuals--I'm making a general
observat). It likes power and is easily corrupted. It's possible that there
are people out there who would like to call in Mr. Spock from the Star Trek
Enterprise and use him as a consultant--toward the creation of an enormous
rule book with stern and inflexible laws governing the MOU listserve. And
there would be severe penalites for lawbreakers. There are people out there
who want to dictate everything--they want to even tell us what to report. If
they thought they could get away with it, they would even tell us what
arguments we are allowed to make. Some of them are very sensitive to
criticism of anything they don't like. They know what's right and they know
what's wrong. And what they they think is right is what we're all supposed
to believe. Making rules, making limitations, being in charge, etc. etc.
etc. ad nauseum--it makes them feel happy inside. Let's not make them happy.
Tim Houghton
(Clear Lake)
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<DIV><SPAN class=219264400-26032004><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>I can
understand both sides. It is a little irksome to get dozens of alerts that
someone has spotted a robin or red-wing black bird. It's also irritating to get
several requests for the location of the Smew or Brant, when the directions have
already been given a dozen times earlier. On the other hand, more and more
people are just getting interested in birding and that's a good thing. You can't
expect beginners to know what is rare or unusual. So when someone asks a naive
question or makes a report on a "trash bird," people should not insult them
or get on a high horse waiving rules, restrictions and standards. After all,
rules are really just guidelines, and guidelines are merely suggestions, as we
learned from <EM>Pirates of the Caribbean. </EM>Meanwhile, those that take
comfort in proposing, studying and working on rules should not be belittled
either. They are trying to do their best to provide a service we all want and
that's a fast and up to date way of spreading information about Birds. Maybe we
can all agree that we would prefer to read e-mails about birds than e-mails
bickering at one another. Although I would be curious to know when someone
finally tells Mike Hendrickson to go to hell. Just kidding,
Mike!</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma
size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> Houghton, Timothy D.
[mailto:tdhoughton@stcloudstate.edu]<BR><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, March 25, 2004
6:35 PM<BR><B>To:</B> mou-net@cbs.umn.edu<BR><B>Subject:</B> [mou] the
GUIDELINES business<BR><BR></FONT></DIV><!-- Converted from text/plain format -->
<P><FONT size=2>Personally, I like Hendrickson's long response and Conrad's
short. They make the most sense to me--broad and reasonable.<BR><BR>I also
sympathize with Christine Olson--she received a particular response that was
punkish and asinine.<BR><BR>There's an anal mentality that likes to limit and
control. (Understand that I'm not referring to any specific individuals--I'm
making a general observat). It likes power and is easily corrupted. It's
possible that there are people out there who would like to call in Mr. Spock
from the Star Trek Enterprise and use him as a consultant--toward the creation
of an enormous rule book with stern and inflexible laws governing the MOU
listserve. And there would be severe penalites for lawbreakers. There are
people out there who want to dictate everything--they want to even tell us
what to report. If they thought they could get away with it, they would even
tell us what arguments we are allowed to make. Some of them are very sensitive
to criticism of anything they don't like. They know what's right and they know
what's wrong. And what they they think is right is what we're all supposed to
believe. Making rules, making limitations, being in charge, etc. etc. etc. ad
nauseum--it makes them feel happy inside. Let's not make them
happy.<BR><BR>Tim Houghton<BR>(Clear Lake)
</FONT></P></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>
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