Etaonsh wrote:

> No, I have to say (even if it may be
> my last) that that is not a correct
> calculation, anyone who has the time
> to actually look at my last post can
> quickly see that,

My apologies for the mistake. I have miscounted the on-topic words in
thy post: they were 57, not 53. Consequently, only the 89% of thy
post was off-topic, not the 90% as I incorrectly said.

However, I am sorry to say that, even correcting this 1% error, the
terms of the problem do not substantially change.

> and that we cannot
> put it to a vote as, unlike at my
> groups, you have chosen to suppress
> the 'Member Create Poll' option.
> Dictators live in a denial which
> undermines the fruits of their
> subjects, and their overthrow is
> inevitable.

Qalam is just a themed mailing list, not a country, so it is neither
a democracy nor a dictatorship.

See it as the electronic version of a private circle, hosted in a
private house, founded by a private person who owns the house and
decided that the sole purpose of the circle was: "Discussing about
topic X".

No one is forced to become or remain a member, and no one is
forbidden to join other private circles at the same time.

In order to be entitled to speak in the club's meeting, the only
*requirements* are: (1) to be polite and (2) to talk about topic X.

Members are not even required to say intelligent or correct things:
as far as it is about X, even plain non-sense is allowed. And notice
that there is a reasonable tolerance on this obligation to
topicality: people are allowed to say "Where is the bath room,
please?", or "What an awful rainy day!", or "I wish everybody a happy
new year".

However, no one - NO ONE - is allowed to stand up and hold long
speeches having nothing or little to do with X.

If someone does this, I remind them of the purpose of the club. If
they do it again, I remind them again. But if they insist, arguing
that what they are saying has a connection with the topic that they
only can see, that I am a dictator hampering their freedom of speech,
that other private circles are different and hold ballots, if they
insist, in a few words, being off-topic and arrogant, well...

Well, in such a case, my only choice is to show them the door. Which
is what I am showing to thee now.

Regards.
Seshat