[KS] Re-revised posting "Revoking a Recommendation"

Don Baker ubcdbaker at hotmail.com
Tue Sep 20 11:56:15 EDT 2016


I would like to add my voice to those calling for greater collegiality. When mistakes have been found in a work, and the author has agreed to correct those mistakes and, furthermore, the mistakes do not undermine the central argument of the work, then there is no need to keep attacking the mistakes made by that author in a public forum. 
Recently, I noticed a major mistake in a widely-read work about a very important event in the history of the ROK. I emailed the author privately to point out that mistake. Even though I did not receive a reply, since that book overall is a fine piece of scholarship, I see no need to attack that author for one mistake on one page of a book that is around 500 pages long. That's because I believe we need to show a little more respect for each other. Only if a mistake appears to be an intentional distortion of the facts and is also central to a argument that therefore becomes completely misleading (like the argument that DPRK agents instigated the 1980 protests against Chun Doo-hwan's military coup) is it necessary to initiate a public discussion of the matter. 
Don Baker ProfessorDepartment of Asian Studies University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada V6T 1Z2 don.baker at ubc.ca

> To: hoffmann at koreanstudies.com; koreanstudies at koreanstudies.com
> From: marion.eggert at rub.de
> Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2016 07:32:48 +0200
> Subject: Re: [KS] Re-revised posting "Revoking a Recommendation"
> 
> Dear Frank and all:
> 
> Am 20.09.2016 um 05:01 schrieb Frank Hoffmann:
> >   I understand
> > you did not invent that style, you saw and copied that on Facebook and
> > Twitter, but still ...
> The difference being that Facebook and Twitter are not moderated. But 
> this list is supposed to be.
> This is not to counter your point, Frank, which is well taken - just 
> another aspect to consider when we discuss how we want to discuss on 
> this list.
> 
>   Regards,
> Marion
> 
> 
 		 	   		  
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