One thing to consider is the affects on the new kids on the block - those who want to, and/or are trying to, learn the mainframe. They come here looking for a professional list from which to ask questions and to learn from. What is the impression they are receiving and will they stay or will they think the mainframe consists of individuals they do not want to associate with.
Lionel B. Dyck <>< Website: https://www.lbdsoftware.com Github: https://github.com/lbdyck “Worry more about your character than your reputation. Character is what you are, reputation merely what others think you are.” - - - John Wooden -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> On Behalf Of Bob Bridges Sent: Saturday, September 2, 2023 8:56 PM To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Subject: Re: With regrets, after many years I will no longer be following IBM-MAIN I recently stopped posting on a forum (not this one), and I can tell you why ~I~ didn't make an announcement about it: The first is kind of like yours, Brian: I haven't yet been able to find any way of saying "I don't like the conversation here any more" without it sounding, in my ears at least, like "well, if he's going to be that way I'll just take my ball and go home. Then you'll all be sorry!" The second is that sometimes I try to quit and can't resist coming back. There's something so anticlimactic about taking my ball and going home, only to start surreptitiously posting again later, hoping no one will notice that I couldn't stick to my threat :). --- Bob Bridges, robhbrid...@gmail.com, cell 336 382-7313 /* Thirty years ago, opposing the then-equivalent of today's motor voting bill...I was angrily accosted by a public figure who demanded to know just who I thought should not vote. My answer, the 30 percent of Americans who have never heard of the United Nations. -William F Buckley, 1999 */ -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> On Behalf Of Brian Westerman Sent: Saturday, September 2, 2023 18:21 People will join the list, people will leave the list. Some of them will let the list know why they left (as in this case) and some of them will either just stop participating or leave without any word at all. It's sad to hear that people are leaving the list for any reason, but to leave because "others" are not being professional boarders on the silly side of things and is more in the line of a tantrum and could have been handled a bit more professionally. There are many ways to selectively weed out the things you don't want to participate in. I like MailWasher (not a plug, but I do use it) to weed out things automatically, but for the most part I just ignore as much of the stuff I disagree with as I can, but in some cases I have also been upset by things. I didn't quit, and I tried not to throw a tantrum. I just slacked off in my participation a bit. I decided that some people have nothing better to do and it's not really my thing to try to "fix" them. I didn't bother telling anyone that I was slacking off for two reasons, 1) it's no one's business but my own, and 2) I think it would be just as unprofessional to throw a tantrum and then quit as the posts that made me want to quit in the first place. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
