Rick writes:
| Agreed.  Why else would one subscribe to this list than to read and benefit from 
|"long and useless comments"?  ;-)

 Paul Musgrave <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
|
| Well put, Mr. Chambers.  I for one appreciate your "long and useless comments."  
|Keep up the good work! Dave Musgrave McDade, Texas, USA

Heh. I was a bit apprehensive about being too harsh. But the fact is,
this  isn't  an  "abc-wizards" list.  It's "abcusers", and the naming
conventions imply that newbie-level discussions should be welcome.

One of the real problems with a lot of mailing lists  and  newsgroups
is  arrogant  "RTFM"  comments  from  the  more expert members of the
discussion.  Such remarks are intended to drive off  novices.   While
this is appropriate on a "wizards" list, it's quite out of place on a
"users" list.  We don't want to drive away our  new  users,  who  are
often  somewhat clueless.  This is especially true for a subject like
abc, which exists for musicians, not computer experts.

It is interesting that there have been several attempts to  start  up
abc  mailing  lists for more advanced users and developers, but these
haven't been very successful The developers especially seem  to  want
to  talk in the "users" forum and get feedback from musicians who are
not abc experts or developers.

This is generally a good sign. It keeps the programmers in touch with
the end users. But we do need to be on the watch for experts who will
insult and discourage novices.  They need to be told in no  uncertain
terms that this is not a forum for experts.

(And we all need to do a better job of keeping the Subject: line more
accurate.  ;-)

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