Re: The State of the List

[sl . m]

Bob, you mentioned the idea of taking the topic of Iraq off-list 
because only half a dozen or so people write about it on-list.  But 
this doesn't take into account the number of emails I receive 
off-list from people who don't want to post on-list about it because 
they feel intimidated.  These are posts encouraging the conversation 
to continue, and I get large numbers of them.  So what you wrote, 
Bob, that "obviously, if no one else is chiming in, no one else is 
interested," isn't true - it should be, but it isn't.

This list can be intimidating because of the level of personal abuse 
that gets sent around - on and off list - and because of the number 
of personalized messages that get sent to the list, which not 
everyone understands.  These two things combine to make people unable 
or unwilling to participate.  It's not just politics that stirs 
things up.  People were getting upset with each other, at a personal 
level, over who didn't or didn't like Travelogue.

Colin, you said the flavour changed after September 11.   I did an 
archive search and saw that just before September 11, the list was in 
uproar because someone received what they took to be a rude private 
email from a jmdl-er. This person posted it to the list, and people 
took sides and started sending each other offensive emails. The 
argument even went on through September 11 and beyond (which I find 
incredible) with the person perceived to have been rude being kicked 
off the list, and even his friends being attacked for being his 
friends. So this kind of thing precedes September 11 unfortunately.

I agree with three of the remedies others have suggested:

1) that Les clamp down hard on people who resort to personal insults. 
Then people would not feel  intimidated about joining in.

2) that people be asked to limit the number of posts on any NJC 
thread per day, and once that number has been reached, take the 
discussion off-list.  This would not limit the overall number of 
posts they can send in, but would limit their posting to, say, four 
on politics, four on a non-Joni music topic, unlimited on Joni, 
numbers and topic categories to be decided.  It wouldn't have to be 
rigidly adhered to, because I don't think anyone wants Les (himself 
included!) to become a strict moderator, but people could be asked to 
bear in mind that the suggested limit on any given non-Joni topic is, 
say, four per person per day, and could be asked to stick to the 
spirit of the proposal at least.

3) that people not post emails to the list that contain lots of 
personal references, as that's another thing that puts newcomers off 
and gives the list its cliquey feel.

Sarah

At 8:33 AM -0500 02/24/2003, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Additionally, if a topic becomes dominated by 2 or 3 people, take it 
offlist. Obviously, if no one else is chiming in, no one else is 
interested.