The listmothers want to apologize to everyone for the very inappropriate,
impolite and off-topic post from Mr. Tony Knox yesterday.  We'd like to
thank Susan Burger, Jane Jacknewitz and Nancy Jones for their posts (there
may be others which haven't been distributed yet), and to let you all know
that we have responded directly to Mr. Knox.  From past experience with
direct communication to him we were not optimistic about succeeding in
convincing him of the purpose of Lactnet and the necessity of staying both
on topic and within the limits of polite discourse, and after a short series
of exchanges we have terminated his subscription.  This is not something
done lightly, but we are confident from the mail we have received on and off
the list that this was the right thing to do here and now.
Even though there is a preponderance of North Americans among the
subscribers to this list, we are always mindful of the diversity of the
list, and that is why we will take this opportunity to thank everyone who
has managed to stay reasonably on topic these past six weeks or so, while
still giving us all a feel for what the heightened international tension,
and now open hostility, is doing to us in our daily work and our lives in
general.  We all appreciate posts which invite us to increase our empathy by
emphasizing what we have in common rather than what sets us apart.  And
there is no diminished need for support of breastfeeding mothers and their
children since September 11, in the US or anywhere else.
Our hope is to get back to doing just that on Lactnet, and with all your
help, it will be a cinch.  If you want to post but are in doubt about
whether a post is appropriate, you are invited to send posts to the
Listmothers before posting to the list, for our opinion.  Send them to
[log in to unmask] and we will answer as quickly as
possible, given the limits of the volunteer nature of this work.
Sincerely,
the Listmothers

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