If you go back to past FMLs you will note that when people have had even
light flames on the list it becames consumed with discussion of the flames
and angry words get worse; then people quit.
 
Also, we at least once had someone address a false name to a post which
was a flame baiting one.  Do you know what could result if someone who is
innocent got slammed for another's words just cause the wrong name was
inserted?
 
There is also the issue of ownership of the note and copyright infringement.
 
In addition, there is the problem of people misreading things.  One of the
nastiest private letters I got this year was from someone who mistakenly
thought that the free service of the Mysterious Illnesses Vets' List was a
profit center.  She had some very unpleasant things to say to me -- none
with any foundation -- and never did apologize.  Now, if someone like that
misread something in relation to any other service out there (perhaps one
you offer or will offer) and replied here publicly attaching your letter
and unfounded assertions just how would you feel if others re-read your
information in that way?
 
I can see a LOT of ways that innocent people (Bill Gruber included) would
be hurt by taking flames public.
 
In addition, I could imagine it destroying the FML.  There are almost no
lists so large, and almost no lists so old.  Obviously, things are being
done RIGHT here.  Most lists unravel once they hit fewer than 1,000 people
and most lists die fast.  The group which has been studied CLOSELY by
internet anthropologists and internet sociologists (people like Lynn
Cherney, Bonnie Nardy (sp?), Steve Cislor (sp?), etc.  -- though these
might not be the exact individuals doing this work right now -- one can
start a search there and widen it) is the group of lists with 1,000 members
or more.  Most die in fewer than 2 years ONLY once they hit that size.
There are professionals who study the dynamics of this list simply because
it is so very, very unusually effective, large, and long-lived.  I see no
reason to endanger it with nasty things.
 
If Bill is having a lack of sleep he'd have to EXCEEDINGLY carefully edit
any such things, and then he'd have a pile of extra work on top of already
having a huge load, plus, he might accidentally incur some liability.
LETTERS WITH FLAMES SHOULD GO TO BILL PRIVATELY.  Why?  Because if they
are bad enough the member can be: warned, dumped, or even reported to the
server used by the person (and that typically means being dumped by the
server).  If they aren't bad, but just misread by the complainer then Bill
can point that out.  Also, things like the false name situation can be
uncovered.  This is not the first time this sort of problem has surfaced,
it's not the worst case, and it's not going to be the last by along shot.
Taking these things to the public only asks for worse trouble -- but
nailing the nasty one through Bill's checking gets right down to being most
effective without the circle of anger increasing to unmanageable size.
Bill does a lot more here than many people realize.
[Posted in FML issue 2878]