From bruce@ashbysolutions.com Thu Aug 29 12:21:14 2002
Subject:RE: OT assumptions

Hi Dan,

>Ok, no further use of the 'D' word will be issued from this bit bucket. I
>may have erred by not placing "OT" in the change of topic but my intentions
>were in the right direction and I don't think it's worth the furor being
>kicked up (no pun intended:) here

I'm not blaming you personally; my apologies if it seems that way. Yours was only one of several messages that came through the pipe on this thread, including a couple after-the-fact. I chose to respond to Mark Z.'s comments, although it may have seemed to have been triggered by your post.

>I - and others - felt it was a topic with
>many levels of similarities to other discussions. In the future, I'll check
>the charter and measure the electro-mechanical relevance of any thing I
>might write about.

This is a very difficult area to police, particularly as the group nears the 500-member mark. It's very easy to get OT, and suddenly have a couple dozen emails on subjects completely unrelated to the list purpose. Often, the OT banter is seen as a welcome change of pace, and so grows quickly. While some may welcome it, it's seen as an annoyance by others. I have been taking the approach that 1-2 OT posts on nearly any topic are OK, but after that, I anticipate self-policing of list members. If it doesn't happen, I have to step in and be the Bad Cop.

Personally, I'd rather see two weeks of no posts, rather than an OT free-for-all. This list is not a general forum for discussing any topics that the members of the group want to talk about; it has a definite purpose. If I want to discuss '68 Camaros, and you and 25 other members also think it's relevant, it still has no place on the list. The bottom line is to use some discretion: If I say, "That sounds like my '68 Camaro," and you reply, "Hey, I had a '68, too!" -- that's fine. If we then start discussing the merits of fuel injectors on Chevy 327 engines, though, we are using list bandwidth for a purpose contrary to the needs of most of the members.

>I'm amazed at how similar the (negative) reaction is to a recent ebay gear
>splatter across multiple boards, but I'm obviously taking this too
>personally.

As I mentioned above, this was not directed at you. If I was unclear in my earlier posts: A NUMBER OF MEMBERS crossed the line with the drum discussion, and NO ONE PERSON can shoulder the blame for the direction that it took. However, I would ask that it end, immediately.

>I will retreat quietly and glaze over to the calming lull of the same
>cyclical discussions that fall squarely under the charter and avoid any
>deviation from same.

All I ask is that the members consider the ramifications of their OT posts. If enough people here want to start a general playing/recording/anything-musical-goes list, by all means do so. I'll even allow you to announce its existence on this list. But I also suspect that many CWSG members won't join it, because they have no interest in -- or time for -- a broader set of topics.

--------------------

[Soapbox Mode on]

Folks, this list has gotten way bigger than I ever dreamed, and that's good. I've noticed, however, that few Internet lists really survive the 500-to-750-member mark -- by "survive," I mean continue to be a friendly, yet useful, resource. Some of them turn into flame-fests. Others turn into free-for-all chats among the "legacy" members. Still others offer so little useful information for the amount of reading that they are hardly worth the effort. I've been on some of these lists -- the operative word here is "been." I hope to steer clear of all of the above with the CWSG, but I'll need your help to do it. Please keep OT and inflammatory posts to a minimum.

[Soapbox Mode off]

Regards,

-BW

--
Bruce Wahler
Design Consultant
Ashby Solutions™ http://consult.ashbysolutions.com
CloneWheel Support Group and HiNote moderator
978.386.7389 voice/fax
bruce@ashbysolutions.com