My thanks to all of you who sent me private messages of support, urging
me not to unsubscribe. I think I have come up with a solution that
allows me to remain involved with Recmgm-L, peripherally, but will
reduce chances that I will engage in lengthy or contentious debates or
annoy anyone the way I did during the last week. By the way, I think
Ginny is right that professionals increasingly are subjected to
overload. My "noise" was not meant to add to that. I've actually
learned a lot from her and Jesse and Chris and Rick and those who
replied privately. Good stuff there, all around, from many heads wiser
than mine.
I am going to unsubscribe from this account. I will continue to
subscribe at my work account, which had been set on "no mail." I've
just set it back to "mail." That will ensure that anything I post will
be circumscribed and limited in scope. Keep in mind that I will not
feel able to respond to every criticism of archivists or historians or
NARA that I see, and that my silence should not be taken as consent or
agreement. If I can figure out a surrogate source with relevant
information, I might be able to post a third party link on some issues
from time to time. I continue to welcome chats with my Recmgmt-L
friends via my personal account, I've really enjoyed hearing from you.
One of my List friends here properly pointed out that if anyone feels
threatened, they should forward the received message to the List Owner.
The messages I received from my critic were not explicit nor would I
call them threatening, it simply is the disproportionate tone and
reaction to me personally that startled me. I'm just being careful,
perhaps overly so. As a Fed, I really am vulnerable to all sorts of
stuff. Anyone can take a dislike to me and get me in trouble. I'm 54
with 32 years Federal service, I'd like to finish out my career
peacefully. Too much has happened in the past. I once was the target
of harrassment due to my speaking out on issues related to NARA. To
see how that played out, copy and paste this link to a brief note into
your browser:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0408B&L=ARCHIVES&D=0&I=-3&X=4996B11A1E280577CD&Y=maarja%40aol.com&P=2915&F=P
So, we Feds are vulnerable to all kinds of things. Implying, even
entirely as a joke, that a Federal employee might not celebrate the 4th
of July, shows a side of a person that I would rather not see, even in
fun. It's just too dangerous, especially for someone who went through
all that stuff my colleagues and I went through with Nixon's lawyers
and advocates during the early 1990s. I just don't want to expose
myself to that sort of thing here on the List. Subscribing only
through my work account should ensure that I say little and stay safe.
Maybe I am just badly gun shy about attacks and harassment. I once
worked in an area where people were exposed to all kinds of things,
none of which we had anticipated going in to public service. I no
longer underestimate the ability of people to attack or harm Federal
employees. To get a sense of of what I'm talking about, see
http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~hns/articles/2004/020504a.html . Those who
subscribe to the Archives List already may have read this. And if you
click on the picture posted there last year, you'll see just what a
threatening individual I am in person, LOL.
I'll say so long and see you around -- publicly via my work account or
privately via either account. And, yes, I need to add that this is
posted on personal time during my lunch break. Crossing my fingers
that that won't get me in trouble.
Take care,
Maarja
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