>Sorry if I appear to be the proverbial wet blanket, but has anyone noticed >several unsubscription requests lately referring to excessive correspondence >which they are unable to plow through, as well as "off topic" material? > >Would it be entirely out of line to suggest that we seriously attempt to >limit the lightheartedness, joviality and frivolity of off topic material to >off list conversation? > >Just a purist, die-hard, extremist who would prefer to keep as many people >in the loop for as long as possible - all the while attempting to maintain >my sanity in an insane world. > >Todd Swearingen >Appal Energy >[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Hi Todd You're quite right. And, by the way, I fully agree with your response to the "unsubscribe" message complaining about environmental issues and so on. Part of our function here should be to provide the context for biofuels use. It's not just a matter of "self sufficiency and cost savings regarding energy", important though they are. There was a big movement towards renewable energy in the US and elsewhere in the early 80s, not for the first time, but it died when the fuel prices dropped. Now the biofuels movement is burgeoning worldwide, and I'm sure it won't die this time, no matter what the fuel prices do, exactly because of the much wider context beyond saving a few bucks on fuel. There's much more to it than that, and more to it than the technical aspects too, the how-to's and so on. Why-to is a major issue, and very connected with all the other environmental/political issues. So the topic is and should be a broad one. But there are limits, and I agree that some recent threads have gone well beyond them. Sure, life is short and should be sweet and so on, and an occasional OT funny does no harm; people should indeed be allowed to say what they like, but there's a responsibility that goes with free speech, and, apart from flames, trolling, spam and such, list members also have the responsibility to stay generally on-topic. I reckon everyone knows well enough what's definitely off-topic, at least. It's hard to say why people unsubscribe. They come and they go, for their own reasons. In the last week the overall number's remained about the same, with 40 new members and 40 unsubscriptions. That is a bit unusual, usually there are steadily more subscribes than unsubscribes. If it's the environmental stuff they don't like, well, first, it's only a small proportion of what's posted, it's nonsense that it "bogs down" the list, and I'd say they're overreacting; second, if they can't see all the practical content on home fuel brewing and the like amid the "100+ emails almost daily" (??), well, that's their problem. As Michael says, there's such a thing as a delete button. But maybe someone who repeatedly posts "unsubscribe" messages (pleas, even) to the list, though the unsubscribe address appears twice in each message, hasn't discovered the delete button yet? :-) Anyway, yes, please let's cut the crap, but that certainly doesn't include the broad-ranging discussion we have here that DOES concern biofuels. If that's driving some people away, well, let them go, it's their choice - if they want a narrow perspective I'm sure there are other lists for them. A lot of members tell me they like this one the way it is. And so do I, I must say. Best wishes Keith Addison Journey to Forever Handmade Projects Tokyo http://journeytoforever.org/ Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
