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On LISTSERVs (tm)
By
Yet again, I stand corrected. I mentioned last night that the momentarily controversial Journolist email list was "just another listserv."
It turns out that this is like saying "please use another kleenex" or "I'd like another coke."* LISTSERV (TM) is an official brand name of the L-Soft company. Sorry! I probably should have known this, but I didn't. (*No disrespect intended to KleenexTM or CokeTM by lower-case punctuation for illustrative purposes.) 
On the bright side, this gives me an occasion to mention the only point worth adding about the hothouse Journolist saga: the documentation on how unctuously Tucker Carlson tried to become part of this mailing list, before he was turned down -- mainly out of fear that he would leak the contents -- and then decided that its very existence was an abomination. (Carlson, for readers outside DC, is founding editor of the Daily Caller, which has gotten hold of people's old emails and is spinning them out day by day.) You can read the whole thing here, but the passage to bear in mind during the next farrago of outrage over political LISTSERVs (TM) is this, from his note to list founder Ezra Klein:die be made to look ridiculous by the leaked email. Please please please can I join your club? I can't? Well, then, I hate your club! Jeesh.
It turns out that this is like saying "please use another kleenex" or "I'd like another coke."* LISTSERV (TM) is an official brand name of the L-Soft company. Sorry! I probably should have known this, but I didn't. (*No disrespect intended to KleenexTM or CokeTM by lower-case punctuation for illustrative purposes.) On the bright side, this gives me an occasion to mention the only point worth adding about the hothouse Journolist saga: the documentation on how unctuously Tucker Carlson tried to become part of this mailing list, before he was turned down -- mainly out of fear that he would leak the contents -- and then decided that its very existence was an abomination. (Carlson, for readers outside DC, is founding editor of the Daily Caller, which has gotten hold of people's old emails and is spinning them out day by day.) You can read the whole thing here, but the passage to bear in mind during the next farrago of outrage over political LISTSERVs (TM) is this, from his note to list founder Ezra Klein:
Dear Ezra,Live by the leaked email,
I keep hearing about how smart the policy conversations on JournoList are, and am starting to feel like I'm missing out by not reading them. Could I join?
