Chris,
I share you views in 1. Photographic discussions, maybe a bit off
topic re Olympus content but often originating from 'real' Olympus
discussions, can and must not be discouraged. Just like the odd joke
which keeps the list lively.
There has always been _some_ off topic discussion on this list, ever
since I am a list member (about three years now, or maybe more...)
But it really gets annoying since a few weeks because OT gets too much
and often too far off of what the list was intended for.
I do also realize that it is more offending now than a year or so ago,
because the number of list members has grown - and consequently the
list members are less familiar with each other.
I have seen this happen in other newsgroups (rather than mailing
lists) where at last the bigmouths were the only remaining visitors...
and I would hate if this happened here as well.
Moderation of a list like this is not possible, I agree with you on
that one too. Even more reason for all of us to moderate ourselves
when writing and pressing the send button....
Frank.
On Mon, 25 Sep 2000 10:19:06 -0600, "Chris O'Neill"
<coneill@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>On 25 Sep 2000, at 17:13, Frank van Lindert wrote:
>
>A couple of very quick comments regarding the subject of off-topic
>messages:
>
>1. While I agree that at times the "signal to noise" ratio gets out of
>hand (and I apologize for my contribution to the "noise" side of the
>equation), it's difficult in many cases to judge what's "wanted" and
>what's "noise." For instance, I'm not really all that interested in IR
>photography, slide scanners (well, truthfully I'm interested... just can't
>afford one), and some of the more "technical" discussions. While I
>admit they're more "on-topic" than, say, firearms, to me they're just as
>"uninteresting" and, therefore, "noise."
>
>2. The only way to *really* ensure that there's no "noise" on the list
>would be to go to a moderated format where all messages are sent to
>somone who reads each message and posts only the ones that are
>"wanted." But, who's going to take on that responsibility??? Certainly
>not I! (Been there... did that... too danged much work!)
>
>3. While I admit the occassional off-topic debate probably does annoy
>people (and again apologize for my participation), I feel it demonstrates:
>(a) the diversity of life experiences and opinion in the list, and (b) the
>overriding ability of everyone (for the most part) to eventually "agree-to-
>disagree" and get along with one another. And, in a way, isn't that a
>good thing???
>
>Anyway, the decision to un*sub*scribe is a personal one, and I guess
>we all have to ultimately decided whether there's enough "content"
>versus "noise" to justify the time, money, energy, or whatever that our
>participation requires. Again, if my participation in any recent (or future)
>off-topic debates causes someone to desire taking the un*sub*scribe
>route, I most humbly apologize!
>
>Regards,
>
>Chris
>
>-------------------------------------------------
>Chris O'Neill (coneill@xxxxxxxxxxx)
>Web: http://www.nucleus.com/~coneill
>
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