On Wed, 26 Sep 2001 14:52:37 +0000, M. G. Devour wrote: =>Almost no one has seen fit to reply directly to my comments on list =>values and direction, yet several folks have made remarks like yours, =>George. Perhaps the situation I was responding to is no longer =>obvious and needs to be recapped. It would be nice to see some =>questions asked. =>
I wasn't ignoring you Mike...just on the road. =>Recent technical discussions on this list have sometimes devolved into =>virtual shouting matches between competing vendors, complete with ad =>hominemn attacks and ridicule. I have stated plainly that this is not =>acceptable and I stand by that -- a position I've been criticized for. => Not very different from when you took over the list is it? Only difference is the current crop of combatants also have financial interests to advance while they feed their own inflated egos (of course they will try to convince us that 'science' is their main concern...yeah, right!) =>Apart from "behavior problems" of that sort, quite often, technical =>discussions have become so voluminous and detailed that they =>have overwhelmed the list, leading many a new arrival to despair of =>ever understanding anything of this terribly complicated subject! => How can it be said that any CS subject can 'overwhelm' the CS list? Most of the posts I have looked at today (from the previous week) have absolutely nothing to do with CS. Instead we are treated to paranoid fantasies about the government killing Americans, little guys in Florida floating big rocks, some modern day wanna be seer that has an accuracy rate approaching 0%, pictures drawn in grass, and on and on. While these are all topics that deserve attention, why should these folks be rewarded for their utter lack of respect for the CS-lists stated purpose and be allowed to hijack the CS list for their own selfish mumblings? =>I have offered to set up a silver-tech-list so folks can talk "tech" =>all they want without having to apologize for using big words, and even =>"take off the gloves" and go bare-fisted at each other if that's what =>will allow them to resolve their differences of opinion... => I think that if the technical talk was turned up full blast then maybe some of these (to mangle a borrowed phrase) "nattering nabobs of nothingness" would either shut up, move their discussions to the already provided silver-off-topic-list or apply themselves to a small amount of study and further their own base of knowledge. Worst case? They leave the list and go elsewhere. Currently, I see very few messages being posted to the off-topic list. Why isn't this fine resource being utilized as it was meant to be? Why should those of us who actually work to further the PUBLIC knowledge base be treated as embarrassing relations that need to be shuttled off to some dark corner to whisper among ourselves? =>The four primary goals of the list are *still*, briefly restated: => =>1) Delivering good, unbiased info; =>2) Giving encouragement and support; =>3) Debunking hype and disinformation; =>4) Furthering the art. => Are #'s 1 or 4 currently being realized? Happily, #'s 2 and 3 does still occasionally happen although rarely. =>It is only when either points 3 or 4 become disruptive to the list =>that I'd figure the tech list would come into play. => You seem to have managed to remove disruptions before...why not keep it up? =>Civil discussions, sans controversy, can and should be acceptable =>here, at least until they get to be so busy they're swamping other =>discussion. => How can one discussion "swamp" another ? If a topic is truly worthy of discussion it will generate all the attention it deserves! =>Maybe, like the silver-off-topic-list, the tech list will only carry =>significant traffic once in a while. Or maybe it'll draw back other =>tech types who've given up on us due to the volume of off-topic =>messages and other complaints, and become viable in its own right. => And what is to keep the natterers from preempting an UNmoderated list as they have this moderated one? =>What's it going to be folks? => That is a very good question... Now a few questions of my own: 1) When on this list has a question gone unanswered due to the technical discussions? Don't count the questions that went unanswered because the answer was not known...that doesn't count. Having to ask a second time doesn't qualify either! 2) Why should the list be targeted to the lowest common denominator, i.e. beginners with basic questions and concerns? 3) And finally, if #2 is the case, who is going to answer their questions and assuage their concerns? Regards, George Martin =>Mike Devour =>silver-list owner => =>[Mike Devour, Citizen, Patriot, Libertarian] =>[mdev...@eskimo.com ] =>[Speaking only for myself... ] => => =>-- =>The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver. => =>To join or quit silver-list or silver-digest send an e-mail message to: =>silver-list-requ...@eskimo.com -or- silver-digest-requ...@eskimo.com =>with the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the SUBJECT line. => =>To post, address your message to: silver-list@eskimo.com =>Silver-list archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html =>List maintainer: Mike Devour <mdev...@eskimo.com> => =>
