It won't help with pay-by-the-byte bandwidth use issues, but creative use of the message filtering built in to most mailreaders, and more clunkily invoked through the use of G or Y!s webmail's [find] would decrease the frustration level for some.
"The conversation seemed a bit... intense." Leigh Michael Perelman wrote:
E-mail lists are different from conversation. You and I may sit down and go back-and-forth with an argument many times. After one or two attempts to provide "decisive" evidence proves futile, the conversation becomes more like an interminable wrestling match. We may continue for hours, enjoying the sport of trying to best the other, knowing that it is unlikely to happen. An list-based e-mail conversation involves many other people -- some of whom have mailboxes that go over limit and others who just get bored or even angry with the upsurge in posts. Once a long thread becomes dominated by two people, it is time to stop. Just continue your continue your conversation off-line. After you've made a couple of attempts to make your point and your "opponent" refuses to concede, just continue your conversation off-line. The Mao thread was particularly offensive because of all of the personal attacks. That has no place here. Do not demand that other people respond to you. We just had somebody I value greatly sign off, because that person felt obligated to continue to respond, and finally found the game too time-consuming. Carrying on with a single theme over and over when you are the only one pushing that position, even if it is a different thread, contaminates the list. I think all of us would like to see a list that is both informative and enjoyable. I would like to see more new people jump in, without fearing to be caught up in some sort of flame war. I would like to see more people provide us with information about their areas of expertise. I would also like to see a socialist world. At this point I'm not sure which of my desires is most likely to occur. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu michaelperelman.wordpress.com
