It occurs to me from reading this thread and reflecting on some of its posts, that much if not all of my "problem" is that which others probably {most assuredly?} have had in different contexts at Mudcat-
when, how, how often, and how much does a person who cares deeply about a subject respectfully share information that differs from an opinion that another person has given. I think that these questions are even more pertinent when the person who differs or wants to share information sees herself or him self or considers herself or himself {and perhaps also is seen by others to be} an "insider"-meaning she or he is the only one or one of few people who has a certain kind of direct experience or inside information about that which she or he wants to talk about.

In other words [gee Gulliver, you've made me aware that I really can be longwinded; that's because of my Sagittarius Sun, Mercury, and Jupiter placements :o)] I'm not the only person on Mudcat who feels strongly about a particular opinion, or position, or culture. But unfortunately, most times I've been the only African American person and the only person of color {which is a catch-all category which includes African Americans} to post on threads about race. Given my temperment and my interest, I do feel a considerable degree of "protectiveness" about African American cultures. There have been comments that I've disregarded, and some that I chose to respond to. The reason why I respond on the record-within that thread-is because as I've mentioned previously, I'm mindful of the fact that people can access Mudcat threads in months and years to come, and I don't want information that I conside to be erroneous or incomplete to be out there and not contested.

Also, I admit, that I feel a certain degree {perhaps too much} responsiblity to add to the record in situations when I am posting to a thread and a comment comes up that I feel needs to be addressed. I admit that I don't want future readers to think "How could that Black woman continue posting to that thread and say anything about what has been said?.

However {And}, I'm also very mindful of the fact that what should always be most important is the message and not me. What I mean by this is that I should be very careful not to add information to a thread or differ with a person because of self-promotion.

Well, every now and then I feel I can promote my website, http://www.cocojams.com/. But that's a different kind of self-promotion since that website is about sharing and preserving cultural artifacts, and isn't really about promoting me.