Ethics is how we are to live our lives in a world which we share with others. How are we to conduct ourselves on a list which we share with others? We try to set the bar in the welcome message. We are people. We are fallible. We, the listmothers, are also volunteers and sometimes a thread can develop to conflagration stage before we manage to avert it. In those cases, the way to respond that is most considerate of everyone on the list, is to write to us OFF THE LIST to let us know. Chances are we haven't been following closely for a few hours. On issues that both arouse strong emotion and about which there is divided medical opinion, it is especially important that we not only agree to disagree, but that we agree to let someone else have the last word, even when we feel that word is wrong and begs for a reply, in the interest of keeping the list focused. If you read a post that is inappropriate to the list, for being off topic or for being inflammatory or for selling something, whatever, we beseech you, don't respond TO THE LIST. Let us know instead, but don't expect an instantaneous response because we are volunteers and we'll get to it when we can. Send a polite post to the person who has stepped on your toes if you feel it is necessary; we would hate to think there are flaming discussions going on off the list as a result of discussions on it. If you have engaged in the latest OT discussion, please stop. Now. You are welcome to vent to the listmothers if you feel it is necessary in order for you to MOVE ON and get back to breastfeeding. Please also be assured we do respond off the list when necessary. It is not possible to tell from reading our posts to the list, who we have contacted privately or who has contacted us. If we have offended you, either by not stopping this discussion sooner, or by stopping it too soon or in a less than perfect way, we are sorry. Please refer to my third and fourth sentences in this post. They apply to all of us. Me, I am about to go take my final exam in the research ethics course I am attending. I won't be reading my e-mail for the next 8 hours at least. So keep a grip on yourselves, and be nice to each other, because you all deserve that much. That goes for ALL of you. Rachel Myr *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html