Some things never change.

I recently joined a listserve/yahoo group for a professional organization, dedicated to the field of communication.

I've had some pretty hilarious experiences with listserve's, as I started one for my sorority when I was in college, and got to watch MANY, MANY people totally abuse it and use it for personal, petty attacks.  While this was, of course, totally destructive, it was also quite hilarious at times.  Unfortunately, people didn't understand when we told them to "stop abusing the email" and we had to resort to restricting who could post.

I've been reminded all this lately because of what's going on in this new group.  One member is leaving the realm of academia to run for public office, and sent out a lengthy email about his logic behind running for office, what he stands for, what's wrong with this country, etc.  Well, some people didn't like this (apparently it must have been too difficult for them to just press "delete") and fired back with "start a new group!", "we don't want to hear this on in an academic group!", etc.  Then other people who support what this guy is doing fire back with "FIRST AMENDMENT!", "He shouldn't leave, you should leave!", etc.

Thankfully all these emails go into my junk mail folder, so I can read if I want but they aren't cluttering up my inbox.  I really can't believe how many emails I've received about this.

This rant brings me to this question...is "acting like an adult" conditional?