I am not one usually prone to jumping into the fray, but today I feel
impelled to speak my piece.  I am quite appalled at the list's recent
display of boorish behavior toward fellow lister Indigo Nights. As a lawyer
I encounter selfish, mean-spirited and overly controlling people every day;
sometimes all day.  But that's to be expected.  I am a lawyer afterall.
But I am also a docent in a wonderful museum here in Washington, DC, and I
find that my time in the museum and interact with its staff is a wonderful
antidote to the harsh and graspy ways of my profession.  I am also a voyeur
of this list because I like knowing what is important to you all.  And yes,
I also look for (and often find) ideas and information that I use in my
never ending search to find ways to incorporate museum work into my
professional life.  I have even (evidentally due to a clear lack of judeo-
christian values) imposed on the list on one or two occasions for feedback
about career ideas.  I have always received gracious and supportive
feedback from other listers, but no one has impressed me more with their
unflagging selfless-ness and generosity that Gayle (aka Indigo Nights).  I
am always amazed that anyone would spend that much time and effort to
freely share what she knows and has with others - - and for no reason that
I can see other than she believes in unfettered sharing and open-handed
giving.  I think the list has been callous and insensitive toward Gayle.  I
for one am deeply sorry for any hurt or embarrassment this has caused her.
And it's all the more shocking to me that a group of people usually so
atuned to issues of censorship and expressive freedoms would behave so
callously toward one of its own.  And for what?   Because her desire to
help others, and spread the word to people who may not have the
wherewithall to find information on the web is too time consuming to people
already in-the-know.  What if someone complained that the text portion of
an exhibit in your museum was too wordy or contained too much information
already known by most well-educated musuem goers?  Would you accommodate a
request for less text from some complaining of such things?  What if your
musuem didn't charge admission?  Wouldn't you think, "hmmm, we provide a
free and glorious service to you ingrates and if you don't like the wall
text then don't read it because some people like to know more, not less,
and besides I've worked damn hard to provide it to you for free!"  And I'd
really like to know why shooting off some half-baked query about the
identity of Indigo Nights and number of her posting is not spam while her
postings by virtue of their consistency and volume (not content!) are?

This list without the full and robust contribution of Indigio Nights is not
something I care to be part of. (Not that anyone really cares, after all
less is more evidently).  I suspect I am not the only one who feels this
way.

- A. B. Rice

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