Posted by Peter H on March 17, 2006 at 18:58:45 from 81.131.114.66 user Peter_H.
In Reply to: Re: 'objections' disagreements' - a heartfelt plea posted by Jock on March 17, 2006 at 16:25:06:
Jock - I am glad you mentioned Voltaire. That name came into my head after I made my last posting. It is important. Like you, I do not have time to go through the archives, but it is possible that on occasion I have been too insistent in an argument and given the impression that I was posting a 'Get Off Tarboard'. I did not intend to, but I can imagine that that might have been the unfortunate effect. I must make sure in future that I emphasise the 'Voltaire' principle.
The Voltaire principle is important because a number of Tarboarders have assumed that because, e.g., one is against detailed examination of AR 'locations', one is trying to prevent people carrying out such examinations on Tarboard. This is simply not true. I do not wish to prevent or hamper anyone from doing so. At this point, the argument Prue used crops up - if one is against discussion of the Beckfoot plumbing or whatever, why not simply 'brush past' that thread and on to another? Well, that raises an tricky question - if one believes that a particular approach to Arthur Ransome's work does not do the great man a service, and in fact sells him short, should one be able to say so? If the answer is 'no', then that does limit Tarboard to pleasant exchanges between AR devotees, with a complete absence of scholastic rigour. Maybe that is what this Board is for? I don't know.
With regard to JMN, yes on one occasion I lost my rag with him, but I have since apologised, and there was, to be fair, a bit of provocation (I had emails confirming this impression). My main problem with John now is understanding his posts - I just wish I could!.
As we are in candid vein at the moment, may I just say briefly that I find some of your posts a little bit 'patrician' in flavour. This sometimes catches me on a raw edge, as happened recently. No excuses for my reply, but in the interests of mutual candour I just thought an explanation might help. Nobody is perfect, Jock!
As no one else has replied to my last posting, I am not too worried about things and will carry on as before, but I will continue to take care, particularly if there is a danger that a new Tarboarder would be 'scared off'. If I knew that this had ever happened due to me, I would leave Tarboard immediately, this time for good. No argument.
(None of this self-review applies to my part in the recent 'Beckfoot' heated exchanges. I consider that my behaviour throughout was controlled and blameless, and I'm afraid I won't be shifted from this.)
I am sorry to take up so much Tarboard space on this, but for me personally these matters are important. I hope we can move on now.