We all welcome and expected the outpouring of sympathy for Mr Slater, who apparently was disrespected---although he does say "very politely"--by someone unknown to any of us in this conversation. Chris Spagnoli, having read Slater's words with care, brings up some good and subtler points. I urge those who are going to chime in to read Chris's words with equal care. We all need to cut some slack for folks new to the list, and excuse them for occasionally not being able to hear the tone of things as they read what others have to say. In any ongoing conversation, such as when arriving at a party at someone's house, it makes sense to be silent and listen for a while before chiming in. If somebody wants to obsess about hunting or techniques of photography or bird feeding or cage birds or tomorrow's elections, this may not be the place to do so, but there are many other lists where such discourse is enthusiastically received. You learn this sort of thing by listening. As for those who choose to back-bite: I think there is one sovereign remedy for people who write to you on the back-channel about your posts and insult you as if they were talking on behalf of the rest of us: you could just forward such messages to the list, including their signatures. This will quickly make us all more polite! Bill Whan Columbus p.s. I just read Mr. Slater's message about rejoining the list, and welcome him. He is misinformed that this list exists to report bird sightings only. The guidelines can be found on the OOS website at > http://www.ohiobirds.org/publications/emaillist.php#guidelines : "Ohio-birds is an email discussion list (mailing list) for Ohio birders and those interested in Ohio birds. Subscribers to Ohio-birds are able to: --share information about bird sightings in Ohio --review the most recent bird sighting reports and rare bird alerts from across the state --learn (and ask) about places to look for birds in Ohio --discuss and debate the occurrence, distribution, identification, and ecology of Ohio birds Ohio-birds encourages the open discussion of Ohio birds and birding. In general, we ask that participants limit their messages to matters related to birds and birding within our state." ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]