In a message dated 7/5/2005 10:54:40 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

> "Maarja, I didn't ever get feedback on why Shelley's session wasn't
> attended well. And yes, she writes (and speaks) very much in your face, which can be
> off-putting to many
> people, but we all have faults and they shouldn't get unduly in the way of
> the
> messages being sent. She had excellent messages and is one of the strongest
> supporters and proponents of recordkeeping I've ever met."
>
Have you met Shelley?  I have not.  I can tell from my own recent experiences
that people can come across differently in written presentations than they do
in face to face meetings.  I agree with you that we all have faults.
Business and linguistics experts seem to feel that there is no "right way" to
communicate and that we sometimes are our own worst enemies simply because we are so
different and can talk at cross purposes.  There are some interesting
observations on this and the "argument culture" in Professor Tannen's work, including
some of the problems that come up when people communicate through e-mail.  I
suspect many of you already have read those books or articles, if not, you can
get a sense of the core ideas by checking out the following links.  I agree
with some of this but not all, the scenarios occasionally seem to lapse a bit
too much into stereotyping.

http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/17_16/last-byte/19426-1.html

http://www.tompeters.com/cool_friends/content.php?note=005918.php

http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/tannend/argsake.htm

I received a private message yesterday in which the person told me that the
way I initially entered discussions on the Recmgmt-L was the wrong way to enter
your community.  I went back and looked at my introductory message in
February and initial postings, of which there were some 30 between February and May.
They seemed pretty innocuous to me but who am I to say how they came across
to anyone else.  See for yourself at
http://www.lists.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S2=recmgmt-l&q=&s=&f=krusten&a=&b=   I started out by asking if people were
interested in my posting the NCH Washington Update, as I send that to the Archives
List on a weekly basis and I had noticed it didn't show up on this List.  When
there was little interest expressed in it, I let it drop and never mentioned the
Update again until we started talking at the end of June about the way
archivists handled the U.S. Archivist nomination.

In retrospect, there is one of my postings in that period from February
through May that I would have worded differently or perhaps not written. Too late
now, sorry!  And I mean it, what I wrote back then in that note should not have
been said.  Even so, I don't see anything there, or even in my June and July
postings, that would have triggered the level of personal hostility expressed
in the private message I received yesterday.  While I would like to stay on
the List as a subscriber, the personal hostility in the note I received
yesterday seems so disproportionate to anything I have done, I don't feel safe
continuing to speak out here.

After I tangled in my testimony in 1992 with R. Stan Mortenson, Richard
Nixon's lawyer, I happened to ride down in the elevator with him.  I knew him from
before the 1992 lawsuit so I didn't hesitate to smile wryly at him and say,
"Well, that was fun."  He actually patted me on the arm and said, "It's
business, not personal."  It actually was a nice gesture and thoughtful statement by a
very high powered litigator, someone who had just put me through the wringer
professionally but wanted to let me know he just was doing his job.  I liked
Stan for doing that. Years later, I sent one of Stan's former associates a note
telling him that I understood all the attack tactics they used against us
archivists in 1992, even if I would not have used them myself.

The opposite is true with my private critic on the Recmgmt-L.  There is
something going on in the level of personal hostility that actually frightens me.
And I don't scare easily.  I just can't take any chances.  So, thanks much for
the nice words of support, Jesse, but I don't see how I can continue on in
this forum.  I enjoyed your note very much -- cool style of writing, one I
really liked -- and will continue to look out for what you say, about IT or
anything else, through the web interface for Recmgmt-L, Jesse.

Good luck and best wishes to you all!  I've met some good people here
"virtually."  For those with whom I made friends, you have my email address, if
anyone wants to chat with me off List in the future.

Maarja

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