On Fri, 9 Feb 2001, Tom Neff wrote:
> * Apology Person (sorry for mentioning her/him!) - every posting begins
> "Sorry to [bring this up|waste list bandwidth|ask a stupid
> question|interrupt everyone's reading|...], then mentions something
> perfectly ordinary, then adds an "I know this is probably [off
> topic|stupid|silly|too long|...]", then finishes the thought or request,
> then closes out with "Again, sorry..."
This type is likely to succeed given a listmaster, who on one hand
more often than not lets the off-topic behaviour slide, but on the other
hand quickly gets offended by so-called cowboys who after a while have
grown tired of it. While not approving of the cowboys, I can at times
sympathize with them more easily than with both listmaster and the
off-topic poster. And if the listmaster indeed is up to the task,
subscribers won't notice so, unless the rate of off-topic list
contributions actually decrease or a clear admin statement is sent to the
list.
