[Coral-List] political arguments on coral-list

[Jim Hendee]

On 5/20/14, 4:33 PM, Eugene Shinn wrote:
> The problem I constantly worry about is that NOAA, which claims to be a 
> technical/science-oriented agency, sponsors the coral-list. At the same 
> time the Coral reef Sanctuaries are part of NOAA and they are mainly 
> about management/enforcement. Both are under the dept. of Commerce so 
> that adds another level of restraints and unintended consequences. 
Just what are you getting at, Gene?  NOAA IS a
technical/science-oriented agency, which seeks to serve management, as
well as you, the public, but what does this have to do (in your same
sentence) with sponsoring Coral-List?  You imply that because NOAA is
under the Department of Commerce, that Coral-List is under some kind of
restraint.  Like, we shouldn't be sponsoring public discourse to improve
coral conservation?  Say what?

As if you needed reminding, the rules specified at the Coral-List
sign-up page only restrict bad (or inappropriate) behavior and lobbing
Congress, mostly,  We, the administrators, try very hard to allow
contrasting viewpoint and dissent, and also TRY to keep things in line
with coral reef conservation.  I challenge you to show an instance in
which a post of yours (or anybody else) has been squelched because it
goes against some political belief or viewpoint (unless of course, it
strays significantly from the purpose of the list).  I mean, some might
say that professing that most of coral reefs' ills can be traced to
African dust is a bit odd, but we let that one out of the bag, too.

    Yours,
    Jim