People have wondered why Kate Cone, reasonable as she is, would object
that American studies aren't safe on the Pound list.  She might have
said so because of some mildly disgruntled comments like these,
authored by Jay Anania:  "I thought this was a Pound list.   Certainly
in the past, before the long tempus tacendi, it was often very
interesting[. . .] [But] questions about how to teach Zane Grey has me
a little confused.  On the other hand, I thanks Charles, Carlo, and
some others for their insights, and especially their ability to form a
lively sentence."

I'm the fellow who started the ZG thread (about eleven hours ago, on a
whim), and couldn't help but wonder about the spirit of such confusion
myself, much as I suspect Kate did.  "American studies" of course
includes Zane Grey, as Sylvester P. just noted.  Kate (I assume) was
reacting negatively to the notion that this list be strictly about
Pound and nothing else.  I think that she might have been overhasty in
asking to unsubscribe (Kate: it would be nice if you didn't follow
through on that threat!), but I sympathize with her gripe.  Jay likes
well-written sentences and well-informed people; so do we all, I hope;
however, he seems not to like it that threads stray from our proper
topic.

Opinions are opinions, and this is by no means a closed question: my
wife warns me that many newsgroups expect posters to remain on their
stated subject, and only write towards the list's main purpose.  I
hadn't anticipated that this would be such a list (since after all,
Pound didn't exactly restrict his discursive interests) but would like
to be informed if such is the case.  If not, I see no reason to
complain about posts that drive over the curbs, so to speak.  I'm no
stranger to listgroups, and though I am a relative newcomer here, I can
tell when there are long-time members with prestige and clout, and
around whom other long-time members will collect.  I value the
diversity of this list (even though the sentiment makes me choke on
such regurgitated undergraduate platitudes).  Surely it's permissible
for newcomers to introduce lines of discussion, and I don't think it's
much of a presumption.

Enlighten me, for I am burdened-
Jon