I know that this has been touched on before, but I would like to try to get
a sense of the group's feeling.
As we all know, not all subjects of discussion on this list are of interest
to all members. I was going to ask a question of a technical nature which
may be of great interest to those who make hurdy-gurdies (for themselves or
for others), but of very little interest to everyone else. Personally, I
have always been happy to receive all list messages: hopefully the subject
line is representative of the discussion and I can choose to read it or
just delete it.
However... I have been told that some list members, especially those *not*
in North America, must pay for internet access by the minute and therefore
might not want to download every list posting only to end up deleting many
of them. A respected list member has suggested to me that topics of
limited interest might be discussed "off-list", adding all interested
parties' addresses to the "To:" heading. This way, those on the list who
aren't interested won't have to download and sort through these "esoteric"
discussions.
In my opinion, this idea actually excludes people, and this concession to
those who must pay "by the message" counteracts the purpose of this email
list. However, I am willing to make an effort to follow this suggestion if
there are many who agree.
I suspect that most members would rather keep involved in all the
discussions (or at least retain the option of reading or deleting), but I
was hoping to get a sense of how people feel about it, somehow *without*
generating a great number of replies, which would in effect cause just the
problem I'm describing. Perhaps the first step is to wait to hear from
Alden about it before starting a long exchange - I believe his opinion as
the listmaster carries the greatest weight.
Apologies if this subject doesn't interest anyone!
~ Matt
