Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Two Lists or a Chat Room?????

[David <buchner@wcta.net>]

On Tuesday, Sep 28, 2004, at 12:00 US/Central, Fly Deep wrote:

> Two Lists ?????
>  
> This is just an idea:  There are times when my mail box becomes full of information that I have absolutely no interest in knowing.  Something like someone wanting a computer program test done on a ambient submarine to see how deep it will go before it goes BLONK if he puts a plug in the water hole. But I'm certainly interested on vectors for thrust verses amperage draw or calculations for pressure vessel material density, but couldn't care less if someone has a disagreement with a  new female crew member on what color the drapes should be.  I know that operating a web site like this an incredible undertaking and I can never thank you guys enough.  But would it be possible to have two lists.  One for specific and prudent questions requiring significant thought.  And one for just chatting about personal preferences and the temperature of water in the Caribbean?  Many of the posts that are put here ! are very significant and thought provoking, useful information.  But many more could be sent to some type of a chat room.  I believe there is a chat room on the PSUBS site but I never see any one using it.  Could this be a possible solution other than two lists.
> Signed;  Frustrated with junk mail.....  

A. I am keenly aware that this is someone else's list, and I just occasionally clutter it up with superficial chat, and that these are not my decisions -- but here I go dusting off the old speech containing my opinions about "What the  Internet Is"...

A (2). I should also say that I, too, am frustrated with junk mail. And that I totally realize that some people do not have the luxury of the time I do to read or filter through the volumes of stuff that come through their computers. And I especially don't want to come off as rude or snotty or combative. But nevertheless, I continue... 

B. My first response: No, it's the Internet. There's lots of stuff -- lots and lots and lots of stuff. Some of which you might not even be interested in. Chaff. Sludge. Noise. Snow. Cope with it. It's a mostly-free, casual, discussion-oriented type of deal. Free mailing lists and newsgroups are never, ever going to conform to some folks' expectations of concise and convenient transfer of practical information. More generally: this is the quality of human conversation. Tangents and so on. This is more like a bar or a garage than a classroom. Also, what if somebody else likes it? Your preference may be to not be troubled with this excess superfluous conversational stuff. Mine is that: I truly enjoy most of it, and just delete it unread if a thread becomes tiresome. 

C. But then I read Doug's post, and hit upon something. As a compromise to those who really, really, don't want to read about drapes or how warm the water is, *could* we, *perhaps* adopt a voluntary practice of adding a tag like [fluff] or [blather] or [silliness] or [socializing] or just [B.S.] to our 'Subject:' lines so that you could set your software to automatically delete those messages that weren't to your high standards? This is already common practice in some neighborhoods; the usual form is "[offtopic]".

D. This is not a web site. It's a mailing list. This is probably pedantic on my part, but I for some reason feel it necessary to keep pointing out these distinctions.

E. A chat room requires everyone participating to actually be there at the same time, no? Like a phone call rather than a letter? I don't see how that would work.

F. I don't know what you're talking about, "junk mail." This is something that you subscribed to. Unless you didn't and are truly just reading it on the website. Oh wait: you're posting, you must have subscribed, so nevermind. But anyway, I get something around 300 really and truly junkmails a day. Stuff I never asked for. Various products supposed to make various parts of my body bigger or smaller -- even some parts I don't have. And controlled substances. And lots of dirty pictures. I'm on record as standing for the death penalty for those who send these out. But silly random banter on a newsgroup I *subscribed* to, isn't even on my sonar screen.