I can easily recall a quantity of nastiness thrown in my direction at LBO-talk, much of which easily surpasses whatever Carrol has said even at his crankiest and most curmudgeonly. Not that I personally mind it very much, as I know how to use filters and, nowadays, I tend to regard all listservs not so much discussion fora (as sustained and principled debates on theory and practice seldom take place on any listserv) as firstly political resources (networking, etc.) and secondly sources of entertainment. Besides, I think that, generally speaking, nasty remarks reflect badly only upon those who make them, not upon those against whom they are made.
Nonetheless, I do think that there are fewer posts from Marxists on LBO-talk than there were near the inception of the list (in 1998?). There are still some Marxists and fellow travelers left here -- let's see, yours truly, Jenny Brown, Carrol Cox, James Farmelant, James Heartfield, John Mage, Lou Paulsen (whom I hope will stay), Michael Perelman, Stephen Philion, Marta Russell, Justin Schwartz, etc., but few of them post regularly. (I hope that those included in the "Marxist Camp" above won't object to inclusion.) I miss the voices of Rakesh Bhandari, Patrick Bond (still lurking here?), Charles Brown, Jim Devine, Mat Forstater, Michael Hoover, Ken Lawrence (uncanny, I was just thinking of him when you mentioned him in one of your recent posts), Michael McIntyre, James O'Conner (still here?), Sam Pawlett, Rob Schaap, Michael Yates, etc.
>However, Carrol, it MIGHT be true, so I'm inclined to give MS the benefit of
>the doubt.
>
>But, Matt, if you 'resent the implication' that you would start a rumor,
>well, someone else might resent the implication that he/she would rat people
>out to the police. We all have to try to keep our good humor, I guess.
>
>LP
Carrol shouldn't have said or even implied that Mr. Stannard was lying.
At the same time, it's best not to pass nasty rumors or market invidious anecdotes, putting burdens of denial -- a la "Have you stopped beating your wife?" which is a species of logical fallacies known as "Complex Questions" Cf. <http://www.datanation.com/fallacies/distract/cq.htm> -- on those about whom rumors and anecdotes are traded.
An aside to Jenny: I'm working on coming up with a list in response to your query.