Wow and who woulda thought lactation to be a boring topic. While not adept at
the legal persuasion (thank goodness <g>), I would not succumb to childish
banters of a semi-sub-human. Let her get a lawyer and see what happens. If I
were in your shoes, I'd do what my gut tells me and DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT,
DOCUMENT....

regards,

in a message dated 97-12-18 13:41:11 EST, you write:

<< Dear all, I have been a subscriber to this list for a long while, though I
 am nomail a lot of the time ( as the discussion which centers on the
 technical applications is often more advanced than I am prepared for at this
 time), but I do have a question about list ownership that I hope you can
 help me with.

 I, and a colleague, currently manage a very large (almost 1700 subscribers)
 list for professionals. The discussion centers on lactation and related
 issues, and has mostly RNs, lactation consultants ( IBCLCs), nutritionists,
 social scientists, pharmacists, and doctors on it.  It is very active, and
 as you can imagine, there are many political issues that come up regularly
 on the list.

 Most of the time, people are very polite and sensitive. However, lately,
 there is a feud going on. Two factions from another country (not the US), ie
 two separate individuals representing two differing viewpoints, have joined,
 and one recently made a comment saying that the second person's business, ie
 a bookstore/catalog business, carried books that were not supportive, etc,
 and the person who owns the bookstore feels attacked, and each of them has
 written to me, asking me to *do* something. I have spoken to them and to the
 list nicely, asking them all to cool their comments, and be polite and
 respectful, although I have not issued any warnings formally. I have spoken
 to the offender privately, urging her to behave professionally, and telling
 her that if she or her adversary couldn't, that restrictions could be
 placed, and her comments were as follows:

 ">And yes, of course you can deny me access from this address and this
 >server. But were you to do so in what I considered an unreasonable,
 >arbitrary, unjust or discriminatory manner, you can bet your bottom dollar
 >that you wouldn't have heard the last of the matter! I really really wish
 >you hadn't felt it necessary to make those statements re access. You must
 >know that I won't be persuaded by threats now or ever. It ups the ante
 >enormously to start wielding big sticks in discussion. And the whole thing
 >surely is about persuasion.."

 This person is known for sueing.  My question is this. Can a listowner be
 sued for restricting someone's access to a public list? In this case, the
 listowner lives in a different country than the person who is the aggravator.

 Have you all dealt with this before? If so, any suggestions, to the list and
 to me privately, would be of great help.  I feel threatened, and do not know
 what is best to do in this situation.  As of this date, both parties have
 told me that they are considering legal action, ....( one against the other
 for her public redressing, and the other towards me and my co owner for
 restricting her access to the list, should we decide to do that.)

 Many thanks. Kathleen Bruce
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