[alberg30] Take non A-30 stuff off the list please!

[George Dinwiddie]

From: George Dinwiddie <gdinwiddie at min.net>

Dan, et al,

I find myself with sympathies on both sides of this issue.  On the 
one hand, I find that trying to limit a discussion too narrowly
tends to impoverish the discourse.  On the other hand I, too, have
experienced situations where the noise became so much greater
than the signal that it was no longer worth my time to sort through
it.  I've noticed that a number of people have left the list 
recently.

Dan, I also appreciate the manner in which you broached the subject.
I'd like to call others' attention to the fact that Dan was not
suggesting that people silently lurk, but that they limit off-topic
discussions.  The line of appropriateness is going to vary from
person to person, but an occasional discussion of the topic is
not out of line.  I also know from experience that sailing forums
tend to wander further afield in the winter when we can't get out
on the water.

I have no list in playing message cop, but I would like to make a
few suggestions.
  
When you send a message or reply to a message, do give consideration
to the question of whether it should go to a single person or to
the list.  Onelist.com makes this a little more difficult by setting
the "Reply-to" header to point to the list.  This makes it more
difficult to reply off the list, but it can still generally be done.

If the topic of discussion is changing, take the time to change the
subject header.  It's much easier to skip over uninteresting
material if it's appropriately labeled.

Also, consider trimming the amount of quoted material.  While it can
be very confusing when a reply includes no context, it can be equally
confusing and annoying when the entire thread is quoted in a reply.
I find it especially annoying when the advertising trailers are not
trimmed from the reply.  Surely they're not of importance.  It's better
for the one message poster to clean things up than for all of the
message readers to have to deal with it.

Finally, please remember that we're all friends here.  In a textual
medium, it's very easy to misconstrue someone's remarks.  In face to
face conversations, you have many non-verbal cues that are missing
here.  Always give others the benefit of the doubt.  Respond civilly
rather than take offense at their remarks.

 - George
  

Dan Sternglass wrote:
> 
> With all due respect, I have found myself deleting close to 100% of the
> A-30 mail in the past few weeks. I -strongly- second the suggestion to
> limit the discussion (generally at least) to A-30 related topics.
> Nautical literature and comparisons of other boats are interesting to
> some, I'm sure, but really they're off topic when they become protracted
> discussions in their own right.
> 
> Most e-mail programs let you make your own small lists for that sort of
> purpose. Once you get a thread going, just <reply to all> and everyone
> on **that** list will get the replies.
> 
> George?... as moderator of this list, can you render an opinion on
> this... maybe I'm out of line here, but I bet I'm not the only one.
> 
> --Dan S.
> dans at stmktg.com
> Watcher of the Skies, #201, 1966, Cayuga Lake, Ithaca, NY
>


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