Off topic kills value of the list and group

[Craig White]

On Wed, 2008-11-05 at 15:17 -0700, Alan Dayley wrote:
> I know several high quality people that either use Linux or want to
> learn more about using Linux.  They were on the cusp but all had a
> similar complaint: They thought this email list had too much off topic
> and "silly," to use one person's term, stuff in it.
> 
> After the recent "screwed" threads, how in the world do I get them to
> participate?
> 
> Please, as a group, let's not do do that again.  Ever.
----
sounds reasonable but doesn't fly...mail lists always have their
off-topic dalliances and learning to cope, delete, respond or whatever
is just part and parcel of the medium. Perhaps we need another round of
top or bottom posting, html mail suitability or just go for one of the
tried and true pointless discussions such as vi or emacs/gnome or
kde/which distro is best just to satisfy the notion that it isn't always
politics.

Yes, it has useless stuff...in fact, I would point out that the OP of
the 'We are screwed' thread has a noise to signal ratio of about 90%. I
do not ask that he or anyone be removed from the list and support his
right to post as much as anyone's because I too can filter or just
delete his nonsense as I see fit.

While I appreciate that on its face, there seems little to be served by
having a political discussion on list, it is encouraging to see a
diverse point of view by the list members and while I have a tough time
finding respect for low quality, unsubstantiated opinions typically
expressed by Mike Havens, I do enjoy vigorous discussions for those I do
disagree and it does help all of us recognize that there are disparate
opinions. This is not a one-off type of commentary from Mike Havens and
I'm quite sure that many are aware of that.

My own personal disappointment stems from the apparent lack of interest
in topics such as the H1B visas, the release of the white space
bandwidth by the FEC and end up getting swamped by traffic about Obama
being a Socialist which is about as stupid as political discourse can
get these days.

The easy solution is that people who sign up for mail lists learn how to
use their delete key or better yet, the combination of 'threads' and the
delete key can just kill an entire thread in a single click.

Craig