Re: Caution: metadiscussion ahead

[Mark Josephson <icebox@xxxxxxx>]

On Sat, 20 Jan 1996, John Bercovitz wrote:

> Ryko suggests, as many of you have in the past, that the list should
> be split up into more manageable, digestible, sizes.
>  
First, I think that traffic isn't unmanageable on this list yet (though I 
was a bit miffed at the 300 posts that awaited me when I returned from a 
week's absence in early January), and we should stay as is.   If traffic 
is too high for this list, rather than split it up, a better solution is 
to start a usenet group.  That way, people could ignore threads they 
have no interest in, but the threads would still there for those who want to 
read them.  

I am one of the minority, I guess, who read everything, and I've been 
here long enough to remember the last time this got brought up (and shot 
down), but I strongly feel that dealing with off topic threads on usenet 
(easy) is better than balkanization (pain in the butt).

> The advantages are obvious.  A more manageable (and user-adjustable) 
> number of posts per day for the subscriber.  The friendlier feel that 
> a small group of friends has.
If large digest size is the problem, there are a couple of possible 
workarounds.  One would be to get out of digest mode and go into ack 
mode.   Then you can ignore posts that you think would be uninteresting 
without having to page through them.  Or, we could reduce the size of 
digests.  That doesn't change traffic, but at least you have the 
satisfaction of finishing pieces of mail faster. :) 

If the consensus of the group is that traffic has gotten too big, I think 
that Usenet is the best solution.
--
Mark Josephson    "The white man ain't the devil I promise  
icebox@xxxxxxx     You wanna see the devil?  Take a look at Clarence Thomas!"
                    --Boogie Down Productions, "Build to Destroy" 1994
Icebox in full effect on WHPK 88.5 FM, Chicago, 9PM-Midnite, Wednesdays


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