David, I generally agree with your skepticism of the Iraq war. I find my country (Denmark), as one of only 3-4 countries participating in war against the majority opinion here in Denmark and around the world - a very frustrating experience, when you belong to that majority! I too, have noted the absence of war-related mails in a couple of days, not just on this list but also on at least one other I am participating in. I have a feeling that once the war started some of the discussions leading up to it seemed futile to many (to late to avoid it). Second, there might have been a general need of a little time to make sense of the information coming from the war zone. As to the appropriateness of discussing 'non-curricular' issues on a list like this? Generally, I think not, unless the discussion is clearly related to the Internet as a phenomenon. However, some times there are exceptions to rules - I think a war like this is exceptional enough for people to voice their opinion in this forum (as exceptions to the rule - a continued discussion could be carried out off-list) - sorry for carrying it on here ;-) Best, Rune ________________________________________________ Rune Dalgaard | MA, Ph.D. Candidate | Information and Media Studies | Aarhus University | Denmark runed@imv.au.dk | http://www.imv.au.dk/medarbejdere/runed