On splintering the list

[P3D Marvin Jones <72657.3276@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Okay, I've been sitting here the last couple of days talking to my screen,
so I might as well talk to the rest of you, too. I don't care much for the
idea of splitting up the P3D list into one or more mini-lists. I am getting
a lot of digests lately--four or five some days, only one on others. But to
my mind, breaking the list down into a number of little ones will just
increase the perceived "clutter." Instead of one digest arriving regularly,
I'd be getting a whole bunch of digests, most of them, like the Tech3D
list, lucky to muster up one or two messages per release. I'd a thousand
times rather have it all compiled together. It would also be confusing
because while there are a few of us who are only and exclusively interested
in one subject or another, the vast majority of us would be interested in
most if not all of the sub-subjects. If talking on P3D is like carrying on
a conversation at a cocktail party, having a bunch of lists would be like
carrying on that conversation while also talking on the phone and writing a
letter and doing some calculation on the computer!

As someone, I think it was Dr. T, said, you're not forced to read all 30K
of a digest (or every individual message) just because it's sent to you.
Lord knows I skip over half or more of the digest sometimes. And there's
always someone's suggestion of a "kill file" although that seems pretty
extreme to me.

Now, for the idea of an "intro-3D" list. I think this does address a need,
but a need that I think would be better served by a good "intro FAQ". I am
very happy and very impressed by our sophisticated and skillfully produced
postscript FAQ, but every time it's mentioned we start getting squawks
about people wanting it in 57 other variations (including GIF, for
gawdsake!). Also, it assumes a general knowledge of the subject of 3D, and
takes up from that point on. Perhaps some kindly volunteer (NIMBY!) might
consider putting together a simple (read "ASCII") FAQ explaining the basics
of 3D as we know it. Questions arising from reading this, then, would not
appear so glaringly inappropriate when dropped into the middle of a
technical discussion.


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