Mike, As you are about to finalize the parameters of this List, I have one last contribution.
I see two dimensions on the List that could conceivably be more closely regulated. The first centers around what I would call the emotional issue. When someone says, Anyone with two brain cells would agree with me! (Implying that the other party doesnt have two brain cells), that runs close to the edge. When they say, I wouldnt take your inferior product if you paid me!, it has ceased to be a constructive discussion. At this point (and maybe in the first), intervention probably is needed. In the area of civility, respect and good manners, there should be limits, for the sake of promoting and maintaining the camaraderie that makes the List enjoyable. The other dimension is the level of technical information. Yes, if a member is filling up whole 38k posts with reams of mathematics or techno-babble (meaning information most members cant understand), there should be limits. But, Mike, I now read with more understanding posts that 2 years ago were gibberish to me. Some of the technical discussion seems to be more a kind of recreational fact-trading, and not necessarily all that germane (I say, SOME of it, but not most of it), but this, too is acceptable, and may even be needed. The issue of discussion becoming too technical is not a threat to me, both because, as I learn, it becomes more valuable, and, in the end, I always have my DELETE key! When I read an insult, its too late to delete it, the negative emotional message has already effected me. When I notice that a particular post is irrelevant to me (which the heading frequently tells me), or the detail is too great, no problem, I just move on. If you curb the technical discussion, do it lightly, err on the techie side. I will admit, sometimes I will receive a digest with most of the posts in it pursuing a thread of conversation that I cant relate to, but that is also the case with the discussion of non-technical topics. Though I may agree with many of the off-topics being discussed, I dont find them valuable when they go on interminably. But neither would I want them to be totally absent. I have learned ALL kinds of valuable and interesting information on this list, a lot of it unrelated to CS. I have asked for and received information that I needed from people who I feel like are my long-distance friends on this List, and again, that information didnt always relate to CS. Except when insults and discourtesy emerges, I feel like this is a sort of second family for me. When Bill F. dumped his particular brand of Arrogant, Superior Snobbery (A.S.S.) on us, and when others applauded him, it made visible that component of the List that look at the world through critical glasses. Yet, those folks also have significant contributions for the rest of us, if they stay within the parameters of courtesy and decency. To try to cull out the overly-critical folks (which I know youre not actually trying to do) could too easily make us just as critical. Besides of which, there are areas of my own perspective on life that Im sure are overly critical also. It does appear to somehow be psychologically difficult for vendors/technicians to respect the products/research/viewpoints of others as being legitimate like their own, or to consider those others as compatriots, rather than competitors. But the reality is, all of us, and all of our products put together, are not enough to adequately meet the need in North America (let alone elsewhere in the world), and we really dont need to be cut-throat towards others in order to succeed. Theres enough for us all! Also, our need to close ranks in the face of AMA/FDA resistance to CS is no small priority. THEY are the real competitors, not each other. As I said in a previous post, what if it turned out that it really didnt matter how you made CS. What if it didnt matter what kind of water you used, or what your voltage or current was, or what the particle size was, what if you could even get the same benefit from sucking on a piece of silver wire 10 minutes per day? Would we stop trying to sell CS because we couldnt claim it was the best? I wouldnt. I dont claim mine is the best, though it is (just kidding!). I simply tell my customers the benefits that have been reported to me. I simply sell it at the lowest price I can get away with, and still make a living ($10 per 16 oz). (Thats NOT a plug for my product, merely an example of my point.) If someone tells me that they have found a local source of CS as economically priced as mine (which has happened), I tell them, go for it, youll save the shipping cost! I dont tell them, Well, you have to be careful of that inferior, low-voltage stuff. I dont have to promote my product by criticising or scorning others. Ah well, Ive begun to ramble. Terry Chamberlin Metabolic Solutions Institute RR1 314 Carleton Rd Lawrencetown, NS B0S 1M0 902-584-3810 voice 413-826-7641 fax service [email protected] _______________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.ca address at http://mail.yahoo.ca -- The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver. To join or quit silver-list or silver-digest send an e-mail message to: [email protected] -or- [email protected] with the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the SUBJECT line. To post, address your message to: [email protected] Silver-list archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
