Noise levels increasing and have become deafening

From: Stephen Dauphin <ai705_at_osfn.org>
Date: Tue Oct 27 15:59:36 1998

On Tue, 27 Oct 1998, Ward Donald Griffiths III wrote:

> Athanasios Kotsenos wrote:
> > even breaking the lists in two - on and off topic
> > so that ppl with common interests can also talk about other things (like
> > experiences)
> > both lists would die though

I actually had a similar thought and it could work. Is it
possible to create an off-topic mailing list that is not publicly
advertised and cannot be subscribed to unless one were already a
subscriber to the on-topic one? Those that want the on-topic list
could get that, those who want both would get both and no one could
subscribe to only the off-topic one. The unwritten rule is that no new
topic could be spontaneously generated on the off-topic one and the
only new threads allowable would be those banished from the on-topic list.
Of course threads would be allowed to meander and mutate once they were
released to the off-topic list. This is just a thought. It certainly
would allow for these brief hot torrents of opinion on semi off-topic
material to run their course without inconveniencing those who wish to
only see hardcore tech info. The off-topic list would be like a sidebar
only accessible to those who read the on-topic one.

> Ward Griffiths <mailto:gram_at_cnct.com> response:

> This is not IRC, it is a mailing list. There is no need to use the
> silly little abbreviations designed to "speed up" on-line chat and
> the typing of same. Use English or as close an approximation as you
> can. Capital letters help as well as punctuation -- a carriage return

I too prefer to see some adherence to convention, instead of the
"barefoot in the head"-type prose in the first quote. However, I note
Ward uses a double space between the end of one sentence and the
beginning of another and I believe this is considered to be an archaic
convention in the word processing age. So we all have our own
peculiarities and I am not sure I want to hop on anyone for grammar or
punctuation. Hey---just kidding around!! There are times this list
seriously lacks any sense of humor.


                                          -- Stephen Dauphin
Received on Tue Oct 27 1998 - 15:59:36 GMT