From: James D. Ernest (ernest@mv.mv.com)
Date: Thu Aug 10 1995 - 22:47:04 EDT
On Mon, 7 Aug 1995, David Moore wrote:
> >subject in question. In most situations, I have come to the
> conclusion
> >that personal e-mail should be cited as personal communications, which
> is
> >enough to indicate that the information is not original to the author
> >without making any promises that the source will act as a reference.
> (co-
> >incidentally this is the solution suggested by about half of my
> >respondents). However a posting to a list (like this summary) which
> is
> >available to anyone and which can be accessed without contacting the
> >author directly should be cited according to the style guide of your
> choice
> >or in such a way that it can be easily found.
> >
> >Heather Anderson
> >hmanders@indiana.edu
I myself would be VERY hesitant to quote in print any e-mail posting,
whether private or to a list, without first giving the person
in question the opportunity to modify the remarks to be quoted, or
even to decline to be quoted at all. Some of the lists these days have
really interesting contributions from folks with scholarly reputations.
Some of the interest is due to the willingness of these people to
write more experimentally or colloquially online than in print.
I can't think of any wetter rag to throw over this still-new kind of
forum than the threat that a careless or tentative offhand remark might
end up being "outed" into the print world by someone else. In some cases
it might be perfectly clear that the statement to be quoted
is uncontroversial and consistent with its author's printed opinions
or both, but in general I would say: get permission. E-mail is not
print, and the same rules (in my humble opinion, of course) don't apply.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
James D. Ernest Joint Doctoral Program
Manchester, New Hampshire, USA Andover-Newton/Boston College
Internet: ernest@mv.mv.com Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Apr 20 2002 - 15:37:25 EDT