[at-l] Staying on Topic - LONG

[yumitori@montana.com (Ron Martino)]

> 100 posts a day about gear or trail conditions might make a person happier to
> be on a trail list.  But 70 posts a day about trail and gear, and 30 posts
> letting you get to know the people you are posting to every day seems a
> better deal to me, even if all I'm finding out is how strongly they love
> their football team.
>
> The Redhead

	You make very good points about the value of learning about one
another, and I agree with them. I guess my concern, though, is that
recently it hasn't been 70% on-topic stuff, and 30% off-topic, but more
like 80% off-topic and 20% relevant to the AT.

	I joked at the start of the football season that I would ask Ryan to
set up a separate list for the football wars, just as we had for the
advocacy and environmental debates. But it's perhaps getting to that
point in reality - going off-topic is okay in small doses, even
valuable, but when it starts to take over it becomes a problem,
regardless of what exactly the discussion is about.

	The football thread seems to be one that does this regularly (though
oddly without the anger and hostility we experienced in the
environmental debates), so perhaps those that enjoy participating in it
could consider making more /on-topic/ posts, and relegate more of their
(friendly) off-topic football sniping to taglines and postscripts.

	Could we give that a shot?

	Ron, living in the homeland of the Montana Grizzlies; 1-AA National
Champions in '95 & '01. (See? I can do it too.)
--

It is our attitude toward free thought and free expression that will
determine our fate. There must be no limit on the range of temperate
discussion, no limits on thought. No subject must be taboo. No censor
must preside at our assemblies.
	William O. Douglas

yumitori(AT)montana(DOT)com