Hello Allie, On Friday, January 17, 2003, 8:52 PM, you wrote:
A> Please realize that it's never my intention to make anyone here feel A> unwelcome. My only intention is to try to make the list have as A> efficient an atmosphere as possible, since it's a busy one. I do know that, and there has never been a question in my mind about that. A>>> <moderator> A>>> Only if it's a risk. ;) IOW's, ask away, as long as you're not aware A>>> that the question or query is off-topic. ... MB>> Allie, I see what you are trying to guard against. But I would like to MB>> clarify one thing: MB>> In posting my query about FTP I thought I was staying on-topic. A> I realised this, hence my comment, 'only if it's a risk'. We can't A> hold anyone at fault if they post a message they genuinely see as A> being on topic or one they aren't sure to be on-topic. A> I immediately saw that this was what happened in your case. This is what I misunderstood. I thought your perception was that I knew I was posting off-topic, and 'only if it's a risk' was meant for any others that might be encouraged by what looked like my example. A> However, there have been blatantly off-topic queries in the past. On A> some occasions, they've been prefaced with admissions like, 'I know A> this is off-topic but ...'. I knew, and said, that you were trying to guard against repetitions of that. MB>> And it felt like a good time to ask my question. Perhaps, to stay MB>> on-topic, I should have asked the question on the thread where the MB>> term FTP occurred. But--then--there was Marck's warning about its MB>> long subject line. A> Hmmm. There are two ways in which one can be off-topic. A> a) What they post about has nothing to do with what's in the subject A> header. A> b) What they post about has nothing to do with what the discussion A> list is about. TBUDL is for discussing the use of TB!. Difficulties A> with or queries about the use of full-release versions of TB! are A> discussed here. We also have TBTECH which is for again, discussions A> about TB!, but of a more technical nature. TBTECH was started in an A> effort to reduced the more technical discussions that wouldn't A> interest the average TB! user or new users. In this way, TBUDL A> subscribers wouldn't be turned off by an excess of traffic that A> doesn't interest or means nothing to them. However, there was a long thread recently in which moderators and others defended the discussion of possible new features to be added to The Bat! In the context of this latest discussion of new features, the terms got somewhat technical--not to mention the continuing use of the long subject line: "Re: I love the Bat , but why can't the Bat allow me to edit HTML documents or read my USENET news groups. Standard Email features." So: There was that continuing thread, post after post, subsequent to Marck's warning to the originator of the thread. There was one particular term in that thread that I wished to have clarified--it seemed to pertain to the on-topic discussion of what new features are desirable in The Bat! What is a relative newcomer to do? Some of the answers about URLs to pertinent websites and FAQs seem to imply one should not ask a question about anything puzzling going on in the various threads. A newcomer should only ask a question about his personal specific problem in making The Bat! work. A> I was really referring only to b). See last sentence above. MB>> I am frustrated again. I do think Peter Meyns's implication may be MB>> right--and the frank suggestion made by Anne back in October: we MB>> need a different TB! list for beginners and newbies. A> Do you still feel this way? A> If so, I'm not sure why and really hope that you'll explain. Because of this latest experience. Yes, I asked my question, clearly, and in a new thread, so that it got attention. (Oh, boy, did it ever!) And I got lots of courteous information from at least half a dozen people. But then, I got told I should not have asked that question at all, because it was off topic. And the first person to tell me, actually, was Jonathan Angliss on TBOT, where he answered the question. It was in the exchange between him and Miguel Urech that FTP came up, in the argument about what kind of text editors The Bat! should offer. I wrote to Jonathan on TBOT and told him that I did not understand how asking about a term used in an on-topic discussion could be off topic. And I am saying that to you now, because it is the source of my present frustration. It's like a Catch-22. A> Basic questions by new users are always answered here and usually are A> answered multiple times. Your FTP question wasn't an exception. :) But, as I said, it immediately brought in the moderator. So I feel I should not have asked it. And that's why a list for beginner-newbies (not meaning technically experienced "newbies," who are only new to The Bat!) would be a desirable thing. It would save you from all these long posts explaining the frustrations of relative beginners. :) Again, thanks for listening, Allie. This is a great list and you are an excellent moderator, as is Marck. I just don't belong here, that's all. And I promise myself, over and over, that I will just only read it. Then, I lose my self-restraint, and the very place I lose it turns out to be the most inappropriate one that I could choose. I'm not unsubscribing just yet. But I will try in the future not to make TBUDL so busy and long. -- Best regards, Mary The Bat! 1.61 on Windows XP 5.1 2600 Service Pack 1 ________________________________________________ Current version is 1.62 | "Using TBUDL" information: http://www.silverstones.com/thebat/TBUDLInfo.html
