As one of the non-anglo participants in the Digest, I have to say that I do find Gian's actions reprehensible.
He said he quitted and then joined under an assumed name, which IMO goes against rule number 4. Indeed, any hotmail account should be considered a violation of rule 4, but I just don't like trolling. Then he presents publically excerpts of a private mail he received, I am sure without an authorization from the sender, wich I find ethically distasteful, as it is open to misinterpretation. And finally he goes on a tirade about written and unwritten rules.
The Digest is written in English because that is the language of most people in it. And if I want a response from those people, I do write in English, and I try to polish my language, and make sure I have understood. And if I don't know a word, I know where to find it. Some of my flames in the Digest arose from a language misunderstanding, so I try to be careful. Seeing the results with Vinga, I was not very succesful. But to blame my problems writing and understanding plain English on an Anglo-Saxon conspiracy, is weird. Or do you consider Kiwis and Californians similar (considering just two of the ingredients in the New Glorantha).
I was not offended by anything Gian or Ilav wrote, but I did not see anything offensive in the responses he received, either, and he reacted very poorly to criticism. If you are offended because your simplistic anthropologic theory is shot down by a working anthropologist, or you are told that what you want is not possible in "Official" Glorantha, it is your fault, not the Digest's. Use the same unwritten rules you use in normal life and you will fit, with your own style, as Martin Laurie has, so most people will know to ignore your mails (the doom of 90% of the Digest), and some people with common interests will join you in threads. I think most of your problems with the Digest are the lack of interest we do have in what you say, while you are clamouring for attention.
Which takes me to a more important matter. The Glorantha Digest has become, with the approach of HW, the "Official Glorantha" Digest. Many digesters (myself included) are finding it increasingly less attractive to take part in discussions with an official expert (designated by Issaries), as his words (where have our women gone?) carry the weight of authority. It was a natural consequence of the rebirth of Glorantha as a game world, but a bittersweet one for long time gloranthaphiles. Now we will know who was right about the Kitori, but at the same time, it will be shrinking the scope for fan production, or that cool idea proposed five years ago will go straight through the window (Red Army Blues).
One thing I am missing in the "new" Glorantha is the slapstick comedy that had been with it since the beginning, and which is being abandoned following the "Mythical Correctness" which Greg is following now. I know many people like the new feel, but I liked more all the RW references to exploit, make fun of, or translate. I trust the writers, however, to give us something beyond a guide to contact the Divine in Four different paths.
What I suppose most people will agree is that the Expert panels for HW robbed the Digest of much talent, and people are reserving their great ideas for official publication. So we have a drab and bitter Digest, in order to have fresh and imaginative supplements. Let's hope things work in that way.
Take care,
Jose
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