Hi! As you can guess from my e-mail address, I'm with "the media." We also have other media people on this list and at the Downtown Boathouse. Not one of our group has exploited our contact with Kennedy before the tragedy or after, as far as I know. I disagree with Ralph's narrow definition of "acquaintance." If I were reporting the story, I might well have used that word. To me an acquaintance is a person who has made personal contact with another, without any definable relationship yet resulting. "Friend" would have been misleading, or even "friendly acquaintance." But the noun as used wasn't wrong. It reminds me of people who have spouses in every conceivable way, but fear the "label!" BTW Ralph, to me, in print or otherwise, you're a friend. Is that okay? : ) As for using these letters... Was it explicitly said in the article that comments were made in this forum? If so, then there was no ethical violation. But the sourcing should be made clear. It's uncomfortable, and could put a chill on a few timid souls to speak less freely, but we know that this isn't a "private" place. To suppose otherwise is naive. Think of it -- Can you name each person on the list? No? Then you've sent a letter into a public space. And even if you could, each recipient has the right to cite your letter. I have always known that, but don't shy away from speaking my mind. If you want to keep your thoughts private, shout them on the down-side of an Eskimo roll! : ) Erik *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Folks, I agree with much of what Erik Baard reports. Public lists are not appropriate forums for private, personal thoughts. After all you were indulging in some morbid, retro-safety notions. JFK Jr. died in a plane crash not in a kayak accident. Most folks are stil scratching their heads whether or not the guy was an "acquaintence" "friendly acquaintance", etc.. It is the responsibility of any list owner to make it clear that a particular list is private and proprietary, not ot be quoted wihtout specific permission. Going the "copyright" route is not so difficult or complicated. We have all seen such warnings, e.g. any ESPN sports broadcast. And, exercise parsing the meaning of words ("friend", etc.) in a public forum has been provent not to be particularly productive. I wish you well, and encourage the list to move along to something more substantive. Richard *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:03 PDT