My memory of what happened is that someone posted their photo, followed
by others in a steady trickle.
The point is not the photos: it's the OT. This is what happens on lists
that allow an OT thread to go too long.
1) Half the list really likes the particular thread
2) The other half gets irritated and start to leave.
3) The thread ends on its own and 25 people have left.
(as a bonus, new members get a very weird first message which often
makes them step back again).
The next one annoys a different group so a different 25 leave. If the
admin tries to step in, they are told 'you allowed thread X' and
pointless arguments ensue.
I was on the Nisus list in the 90s. It went down this path. It was a
fantastically helpful list that kept going OT. It was fun for a while
but I left when the current thread was about mediaeval bagpipes.
So as it goes on, more people leave and the admin has to either moderate
a lot of people who are actually potentially good list members. The list
becomes bad-tempered because of the unpredictable nature of posts and
admin intervention. Experts leave because they get a very weird set of
responses to their help. I left LMUG because of this but didn't get
unsubscribed for a day or two (I told them exactly why I was leaving)
and at that point I was 'the last expert' because the others had already
given up: there was a lot of recrimination but - sadly - not enough to
make the admin do their job.
Added observations: the best lists I've ever known have an admin who
tends to step in after about 24-48 hours and call time on the thread.
So that's what you'll get from me (along with roughly annual, and
friendly, clarifications like this one. It's not up for negotiation,
unless someone else wants to take over which I would be perfectly happy
with. I think I must be at something like ten years now (?).
(I did once get someone who was interested but it came at a stupidly
busy time and when I got back to them, it looked like they had left! If
it was you, please get in touch;))
On 13 Oct 2013, at 8:27, Graham Perrin wrote:
Glancing again at <
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/smug/KypceeuPNr4/phW1UWHFlrEJ> I
assume
that we're not encouraged to (re)post photographs of ourselves or our
pets.
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