From bruce@ashbysolutions.com Tue Oct 29 12:36:37 2002
Subject:Re: Reel in the members, please?

Hi Bob,

>All,
> How about some more of you 500 members getting into the action. I don't
>really mind you not participating but when you don't I feel like the forum is
>pretty wide open to anything that mentions music that the 10 or 15 of us want
>to address. This isn't a gripe as much as it is an invitation for you other
>members to join in. Humbly, OHF Bob

With all due respect, I completely disagree with your line of reasoning. If I'm given the choice between one clone-related issue per month, or 25 OT messages per day, give me the one posting. I look to this list as a resource for exchanging knowledge and opinions on a rather narrow list of topics, not a virtual "social club" for the members, or the Hammond equivalent of the Howard Stern Show.

This group was founded to discuss the issues that affect Hammond Organ clone users. It was NOT meant to discuss playing music in general, owning Gibson Les Pauls, or the financial and philosophical benefits of playing one style of music vs. another. There are groups that discuss these kinds of topics, but they openly say so in their charters, so that members understand what the group is all about. This list says that we ARE NOT here to discuss general music areas in its charter; I know, because I wrote it.

I belong to a synthesizer forum that has about 5-6 messages average per day -- but "average" is a deceptive term, because a typical day has either 0-1 messages, or 15-20. This is fine with the members: When we have something to say, we kick in, and when we don't, we go our separate ways. IMHO, this method would serve the CWSG better than an open forum on any topic the attending quorum decides is valid for the day. I belong to another Hammond-related forum that takes the same approach.

The existence of a list is not justification to fill the available bandwidth, and the lack of conversation on topical issues does not give members license to change to direction of a forum. There is nothing in the charter of this list that requires a member to submit a certain number of posts per day/month/year to remain a member in good standing. Members can talk or lurk as they see fit, but they should remain reasonably on-topic.

Regards,

-BW

--
Bruce Wahler
Design Consultant
Ashby Solutions™ http://consult.ashbysolutions.com
978.386.7389 voice/fax
bruce@ashbysolutions.com