Klarinet Archive - Posting 001101.txt from 2003/04
From: "Lelia Loban" <lelialoban@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Off-topic emails
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 00:47:17 -0400
Deidre Calarco wrote,
>Maybe they should split it into two lists:
>
>Klarinet-tech and Klarinet-chat.
>
>I enjoy the off-topic conversations sometimes, but I joined the list to
>talk shop. If there were a chat list where it was okay to talk about
>other topics and a tech list that was strictly clarinet stuff, maybe that
>would work out better.
Do you want to administer the other one, Diedre?
I thought not. I don't, either! ;-)
We did have a separate, moderated clarinet list for awhile, but for the
most part, people stayed here and didn't go there, until the other one died
of a broken heart. Pipe organists do have two flourishing and somewhat
competitive main lists, one of them a moderated technical list with strict
rules (plus a few splinter lists that evolved from, "I'm leaving and I'm
taking all my friends with me, so there!" feuds). They're both good lists,
but because nearly everybody who subscribes to one also subscribes to the
other, so many messages get cross-posted that the digests are long and
repetitive. Instead of getting bored once with each message that's of no
interest to you, you get bored twice. If you want to find out how many
e-mails are too many, join the pipe organist lists.
I don't mean to imply that the separation of pipe organ lists is a total
failure. It works somewhat, but despite the noble attempt to set up a
technical neighborhood and a chit-chat neighborhood, people will wander
will-nilly; some people need more attention than others; some people have
hotter tempers than others; and naturally the result is frequent fighting
over who's off-topic and why. (We alternate that fight with the one about
why electronic organs are evil vs. why not. You want to see some nice,
polite, civilized church organists turn purple and spit nails? Just call
somebody a "Hammster" or mention the word "toaster.") When things devolve
to the name-calling stage, we get another message marked "ADMINISTRATOR --
ALL READ!" telling everybody to shut up. So everybody shuts up for five
minutes and then the cycle slowly grinds into gear again. (I write "we,"
but, being unwilling to parade my vast ignorance of pipe organs, I've
posted probably fewer than a dozen messages on both lists combined since
1998 when I joined them.)
Starting a new list, calling a list something else or making up new rules
doesn't change human nature. That's just life in cyberspace. I think two
clarinet lists would be more of a nuisance than they'd be worth. Besides,
Shadow Cat would kill me.
;-)
Lelia Loban
lelialoban@-----.net
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