It is human nature to talk. And when a group of people are brought together conversations will start on any topic that interests more than one of the people present. Have you ever been to meetings and listened to the tea-break chatter among the regular attendees?
For example, I am a member of 3 different clubs and at none of the meetings do the breaktime discussions always stick rigidly to the subject of the club. The difference between those meetings and an email forum such as this however, is filtering. At the meetings, people will gather in little groups to join in whichever conversation interests them at the time, while ignoring the background chatter. With an email group though, there is no background chatter; it is all in the foreground. There has been a huge amount of traffic on ql-users recently, but very little on ql-developers. The QL & derivatives, the O.S. and applications are the 'glue' that keeps this group together, but the computing world we are part of is unfortunately dominated by non-QL hardware and software, much of which frequently gives us plenty of frustration and it is natural to want to let off steam among others who are likely to sympathize with our grievances. I must admit that I think the virus thread has dragged on a bit now (though a humorous disaster story will always make me smile), but it's a shame that Peter has chosen to 'throw the baby out with the bathwater' - unless he also finds the on-topic stuff no longer to be of sufficient interest. He has given helpful information in answer to a number of my questions - it's a pity that source of knowledge will no longer be available. It is clear that group members do want to use the forum for smalltalk (not that I'm trying to devalue the subject of viruses and the disruption they cause). Perhaps the ql-users list should fulfil that, and a new list called ql-help or ql-advice be created. But then again maybe not, people will tend to migrate to where most of the action is happening without worrying about what the list is called. I'm happy with it the way it is at the moment. The group is lively; O.K. I do arrive at work in the morning and find a huge amount of email to sift through, but it is no hardship to follow the threads that interest me most, and read the others later when I've got more time (I do open and read all the messages). Sometimes it is the off (or less 'on') topic threads that I read first; a little lighthearted chat makes good tea-break reading! Well, I've wittered on for long enough and there's work to be done. Ian. > -----Original Message----- > From: webmaster > Sent: 06 February 2002 15:29 > To: ql-users > Cc: webmaster > Subject: [ql-users] List etiquette. (Was: ms-users-and-smalltalk-list) > > > At 09:14 �� 6/2/2002 +0000, you wrote: > > >Norman's <rant-mode on message snipped> > > Hi all, > No matter how much I understand each side's arguments I think > it's a good > time to say the following: > > 1. First of all, our freedom must stop where someone else's > freedom stops. > This is a fundamental democratic responsibility and I for > one, no matter > how much I agree or disagree with any side's position have to > respect that... > 2. It is a shame losing any of our developers from this list. > They are a > valuable commodity to a small group as we are... Having said > that it would > bother me just as much to lose you Norman as a contributor as > it does to > lose Peter or anyone else. Where would we be without Nasta > for example, or > Tony... and how much more "rich" our list would be if we had > Simon Goodwin > among us or Tony Tebby or Jonathan Hudson...? > 3. Although going out with a "bang" as Peter did is my > "favourite" course > of action at times (Don't forget that I am Greek ;-))) We > invented drama!) > I have to admit that it is something that I don't > particularly enjoy being > done to me (Maybe it's me maturing -finally- or the understanding of > people's differences). Nonetheless It's clear that it can be just > frustrating to other as the original reason to the affected party... > 4. If you want my two cents (which probably you don't ;-) but that's > another story) I believe that the list is extremely PC > oriented nowadays > (and partly because of me too... I don't leave my "tail" as > we say out of > it!). It's proven that no matter how much useful advise > regarding viruses > and other security holes in M$ products has been exchanged in > this list, > people still do the same mistakes... still use Microsoft > products and will > still have the same problems which will still beg for the > same advise... > This repeating of mistakes especially on a "foreign" -to the > subject of the > list- platform can be very frustrating.. (Again I don't leave > myself out of > it... I did it numerous times and I would probably do it again). > 5. No matter how much you agree or disagree with Peter, you > have to admit > that we do not (because it's convenient or because we forget) > include the > OT: prefix in our mail subject lines when its appropriate... > This alone > could save a lot of trouble and similar phenomena in the future. > 6. Finally, whether we agree or disagree with Peter (or > anyone else with > the same or different or in general "radical" ideas) we have > to consider > voicing our concerns directly to them before going to the > list... (That > goes both sides and it does not imply anything about ANYONE - > Just to make > sure I am not misunderstood). > > All of the above, must not taken as a way of "politely taking > sides". My > opinion on this matter is crystal clear and furthermore I > like everyone on > this list... else I wouldn't be here... :-) (So don't try to > think that I > am saying something that I don't). > > For all the above, I would propose a discussion on the proper > etiquette of > this list. If we set rules that are impartial, things like > that will not > happen again and arguments of this sort would be moot anyway :-) > > So I would accept comments on the above with thanks (And this > is ON topic > since it concerns the operation of the list). Especially I > would like Bruce > to voice his opinion on this (list moderator and all...:-) to solve > problems like that at their genesis once and for all... > > > Sorry for the extremely long mail, > > > Phoebus > Visit our website at http://www.ubswarburg.com This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the individual named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender therefore does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this message which arise as a result of e-mail transmission. If verification is required please request a hard-copy version. This message is provided for informational purposes and should not be construed as a solicitation or offer to buy or sell any securities or related financial instruments.
