>To be honest, I can't see how anyone finds the second or two it takes
>to realise a message isn't worth reading a real and serious drain on
>their time (since I get the digest).
You've heard my opinions on digests versus filters.
>If I'm too busy, I just let the mail pile up and get on with whatever
>is so important. Maybe you're on too many lists? (I unsubscribed from
a >lot last year for the same reason, BION).
H-costume and the translators' list are the only ones from which I
receive messages directly, that have any high volume of mail. I'm on a
couple of others that are in the three-emails-a-day category.
The thing is: There are enormous quantities of information available on
the Internet and elsewhere. The ability to sort out what information
you want, from what you don't, is increasingly important. The most
efficient solutions are technical, not manual.
One thing I really want, BTW, is better search engines. Partly as in,
ones that don't sort the top results by how much advertising the owners
of those websites bought from the search engine company.
And I believe in saving ten minutes where I can, because time really
adds up (or subtracts down). For example, my computer takes only a few
minutes to boot; but unless I'm trying to write down error messages from
a problem, there is no point in staring at the monitor when I can make a
cup of tea and a fast breakfast during that time (I eat breakfast and
lunch at my keyboard). Or, I don't like having a bath or a shower as
dead time. So every time I go to take a shower I decide on a specific
problem to solve that is probably solvable in that amount of time. Like
a difficult paragraph or two to write. Or a specific decision to make.
Usually I come out with the answer. I also sometimes set problems for
thinking about at odd hours during the night, if I wake up. Especially
for the time right after I wake up in the morning and have the dilemma
about how to get up to drink some caffeine, without the energy the
caffeine gives me to get up. The problem gives me something useful to
do in the meantime. I get a lot done that way.
BTW, a number of writers have told me these tips were useful to them, so
maybe they will be for some people on this list.
I also spend most of my hours processing information, by reading,
writing, and thinking. There's a lot more of it available than I can
ever process, so throwing out all the info I don't want to read is
extremely important to me. I've got thousands of books, and I've got a
couple of hundred on my immediate to-read pile. And there is a lot of
information on the Internet, which is a pain to sort out because there
is such a high proportion of it that I don't want.
However, I figure that many other people feel the same way, or they
wouldn't complain about subject lines and snipping.
>Two things: helping people is - for me - what makes the net useful.
For me, what makes the Internet useful is information. I spend my whole
professional life trying to be useful. That's what writing is about,
especially nonfiction. If you're any good, professional writing is
never about you, even when it appears to be. It's always about the
reader--what will inform the reader, entertain the reader, do for the
reader whatever that publication is supposed to do.
>The second is that I don't see the >point (and this is /not/ personal)
>in complaining about it since it >really honestly doesn't affect my
>life that much and people are needing >to chat/talk/share unrelated
>info. If they need to, fine, I don't >usually. That's all.
I complained, then I moved on to trying to solve the problem with the
technical solutions that are available and that I believe to be most
effective. I see no problem in also offering those solutions to others.
As I said, I'm not normally a chat person--and BTW most of this message
qualifies as chat from my point of view. I want all conversations to be
informative, interesting, challenging, productive. My favorite people
have always been computer geeks or science nerds. They're never boring
and they get straight to the point. I'd much rather be around people
who are intelligent than people who are conventionally "nice."
Especially since niceness and kindness are not the same thing, just as
belonging to a clique is not the same thing as friendship.
>It isn't a duel at the OK Corral and I certainly hadn't seen it like
>that - until you suggested it!
Come on. It would be a great event. Although I'd actually prefer
rapiers at dawn for an earlier era, if you don't mind. More romantic,
and I'd look awful in a cowboy hat.
> Me, I'd rather wade through miles of "how cool" than miss where the >
original inspiration for the garment/research/technique came from. YMMV,
> as they say.
Now there is where we definitely disagree. If I could avoid wading
through 100% of the stuff that doesn't interest me I'd be overjoyed.
Fran
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