I enjoy being on this list and although some topics don't really interest
me., I do prefer the choice to either read or delete the messages.
Most messages are short and even on slow connections don't eat up much time
to download and deal with once offline.
There have been a few instances when the subject matter was so off topic
that Alden had to deal with it and I thought that worked very well as far as
I know.
Barry
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Nogy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, July 21, 2006 2:06 PM
Subject: Re: [HG] List etiquette: Subjects of limited interest?
I am a hobbyist player, a more than interested builder.
If I was forced to take only one thing from this list, and not get any of
the rest, I would rather get the tech discussions and not the other stuff,
if I had to choose.
I don't know if there is a 'pure' focus to this list, and several 'less
pure' alternate topics it discusses. Would probably be a hard thing to
get a consensus on, as there are as many primary interests as there are
people on this list.
Some may want record reviews, some may want event listings and synopsis,
some may want music and playing tips, mechanical tips, building
information.
Who do you exclude, or move to a secondary, private discussion? Until
there is a definite 'on topic' list, I can't see any fair way to go about
segregating topics. And since there isn't a real problem with inbalance
(besides, some of my lists deliver 400 messages a day, we get what here,
10-20 on a good day?) I think that it should remain what most people seem
to think is OK - a general discussion list about all things HG, art,
science, or combination thereof.
Just my $.02 worth
Chris Nogy
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********
On 7/21/2006 at 2:28 PM Matthew Szostak wrote:
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
