[Tango-L] Fun with a Milonga-Candombera

[Tango-L and Tango-A Administrator]

The original poster of this obviously didn't read the list rules 
(particularly of the strictness on the ones about flaming) and has to 
have set a new record for the number of violations in a 48-hour period. 
He obviously wasn't on review before, and he obviously is now.

That aside, it may be useful to review some of the postings on this thread:

The original posting was a 1-liner:

> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKfu2wOG154

followed by 6 lines identifying the poster and his Tango business.

One-liners including links to youtube videos (or links anywhere for that 
matter) that don't add some meaningful discussion are not permitted on 
Tango-L. In addition, the purpose of this posting appeared to be 
entirely self-promotion, which is not the purpose of Tango-L either.

There *are* two ways to achieve this on Tango-L: one is the 1-time 
introduction permitted to anyone who wishes to announce their Tango 
presence and services to the list (in which links to videos would be 
relevant and may be included), and the other is as part of the 3-line 
signature permitted on otherwise relevant-to-Tango-L postings.

The fact that parts of this thread were nonetheless constructive is a 
credit to those list members (yes, especially Sergio) who were able to 
distance themselves from the pettiness, but doesn't justify the lack of 
civility in other postings.

Notwithstanding all that, reviews of professionals' offerings ARE 
explicitly permitted on Tango-L but with strict restrictions to ensure 
that they are made as a service to the community and not just to attack 
a competitor, or be mean-spirited, etc.

So it is true that having posted a video implicitly saying, "Look at me, 
am I not great?" one must be prepared to accept that some would respond 
disagreeing (and those are the ones more likely to respond). However, 
the tone of the following response (by a poster who is normally a good 
contributor, including later postings on the same thread) was 
unfortunate as it was designed to ridicule rather than be a constructive 
review:

> Deer lowered, he waves
> his left arm around more than a drunk partygoer doing the chicken
> dance at a wedding reception.

The following response (also from a poster with other good 
contributions), while slightly more subtly ridiculing, essentially had 
the same objective, and would not qualify as a review or constructive 
response either, even though it was undoubtedly sincerely felt:

> Your criticism is spot on Huck. But how to defend your point? How
> would someone who has never experienced sublimation understand what
> is missing when they "groove"? IMHO, you have a better chance of
> explaining color to a blind man.

But neither of those responses justified the subsequent flaming and 
bickering by the original poster, which is what got him on review (not 
the original 1-liner video which would just have got him a reminder). 
But as some marketing types say, "There's no such thing as bad 
publicity," so if indeed self-promotion was the idea, I'd say it worked 
(I certainly wouldn't have bother to watch the video had it not been for 
the subsequent discussion)! :-)

Shahrukh Merchant
Tango-L and Tango-A administrator
tango-L-owner at mit.edu

P.S. As far as the video itself ... maybe I'll post my opinion too, or 
more likely just consider the horse well beaten.