The scandal of private listservs

Glenn Reynolds declares that a private listserv run by Ezra Klein is a "scandal". Which is interesting, because I first ran into Glenn Reynolds on a private listserv run by Eugene Volokh. The members included pro-gun law professors like Reynolds, an NRA staffer and at least one journalist. I do not consider Volokh's listserv to be a scandal.

Volokh converted it to a public listserv in 2003 and traffic dropped significantly after that, though that might be a coincidence.

More like this

A Harvard School of Public Health Press Release describes a new study by Miller, Hemenway and Azreal: In the first nationally representative study to examine the relationship between survey measures of household firearm ownership and state level rates of homicide, researchers at the Harvard Injury…
John Quiggin has a thoughtful post on the parallels between the Bellesiles and Lott affairs. Meanwhile, Charles Murtaugh, responding to this Tapped piece reckons that there is an important difference: there are pro-gun people like Michelle Malkin criticizing Lott, but there weren't pro-control…
Vladimir Kushnir describes how Symantec's censorware blocks access to many pro-gun websites such as nra.org, under the category 'Weapons'. I checked, and he has accurately described which sites are blocked. (Though the Lott site that is blocked is actually a collection of…
In an opinion piece in the New York Times Glenn Reynolds claims: Last month, Greenleaf, Idaho, adopted Ordinance 208, calling for its citizens to own guns and keep them ready in their homes in case of emergency. ... And it may not be a bad idea. While pro-gun laws like the one in Greenleaf are…

Let's see. I'm on 4 private listservs that I can think of right off the top of my head, plus a few discussion groups that go through email, plus... Good Gods! - I'm a conspirator, and all this time, I thought I was simply engaged in best practice and sharing information with trusted collaborators/fellow professionals/those with shared interests.
It's a stick for fools to beat themselves with.

Oops - sorry, forgot sailing. Make that 6 private listservs. I'm sure others can top that. I'm assuming listservs that are available through employment/professional memberships count, right? They are private, not public, after all. Let's demonstrate how ridiculous these faux-complaints are.

Oops - 7. I forgot an academic one.

I propose a scale for conspiracy, based on number of private listservs you belong to.
0 Innocent bystander
1-3 Unwitting pawn of the dark forces
4-7 Minion of the _______ Conspiracy
7-10 Mid-level overlord
11+ Master Conspirator - we bow before you. (or retired hobbyist)