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Re: [ARSCLIST] The case for message boards.
I agree with Mike and I plead guilty to sometimes straying afield and beating a point to death. I
will work to mke more brief my participations in this list. A moderated list and proper use of
reasonably feature-filled e-mail clients is the answer. Totally agree with Mike about moderation but
I will say that my favorite list of them all is moderated and the only reason it works so well is
that the moderator is very laissez fare and lets things run their course, thus usually does not cut
a thread off. The result is that listmembers get to know each other a little better and expertise
that is indirectly related, but boomerangs around to useful at some later point, gets passed.
My impression of this list is that it's got a split personality. There are institutions/owners of
collections, there are private collectors and there are those of us in the preservation/transfer
business. It's a good mix of people, with many complementary skills and facts, but the differing
interests guarantee that not all messages are of interest to all people. That's what filters and
delete buttons are for. It seems that many of us do not have time or patience to be surfing message
boards, while some rabidly want to convert to that format. One question that immediately comes to
mind is, can a list do both?
I know exactly of whom Mike speaks with the two bandwidth-abusers and I just delete anything that
comes in from them. It's a nice gratifying way to quickly clean out the inbox!
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Fitzgerald" <mike@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, March 05, 2007 7:35 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] The case for message boards.
My impression after spending several years here is that there are TWO people who talk and talk and
talk and say nothing, frequently about issues that have nothing to do with ARSC (and one of these
two is far worse than the other). These people apparently feel some kind of obligation to send a
message (or a dozen messages) on every single thread: one simply spouting the same trite silliness
over and over (reruns - the same inanities and puns), and the other posting just a single sentence
that contributes nothing to the discussion. I have filters set up to eliminate their messages from
my inbox. Unfortunately, others don't and reply to them and the cycle continues.
Fix these two and 99% of the problem is solved. These people will do this whether on a message
board, newsgroup, or on email unless a moderator steps in and enforces some rules.
I have no desire to see a message board. I would not visit it with any kind of regularity the way
I read the daily messages now. I would very much like to see a moderated email list. I find it
very disappointing that the quality level of the ARSC Journal is so high and that of this list is
so low. To use an audio analogy: signal-to-noise ratio here is very low. A message board won't fix
that. We need some NR in the shape of policies that are enforced, not just suggested because these
two have read the guidelines, have been spoken to, and yet they simply continue and good folks
drop out.
Mike
mike at jazzdiscography.com
www.jazzdiscography.com