There is no need to say "except" below. Cave related equipment is cave related. It is not OT.
For what it's worth, in addition to the on-line responses supporting my posting, I've received several private notes of support too. George -----Original Message----- From: Matt Turner [mailto:kat...@yahoo.com] Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2008 9:01 AM To: Daniel Hogenauer; gv...@warpdriveonline.com; texascavers@texascavers.com Subject: Re: [Texascavers] Thoughts on OT postings Agree about the OT discussion, except when they involve cave related equipment, like David's LED discussions. Global Warming, Evolution, and Plastic bags should be on another list. Matt Turner "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." - Aristotle "Empty pockets never held anyone back.Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that."- Norman Vincent Peale ----- Original Message ---- From: Daniel Hogenauer <dhogena...@msn.com> To: gv...@warpdriveonline.com; texascavers@texascavers.com Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2008 10:50:33 PM Subject: RE: [Texascavers] Thoughts on OT postings Thank you George, Thank you for your abiding commitment to and concern for caves, cavers, caving organizations and functions, and for this forum. I second what you wrote to the TexasCavers community about this news group - very well said. I don't think that I was among those who told you that they were tempted to unsubscribe, but I am among the subscribers who routinely delete every single post from some contributors and many other postings with subject line that are of no interest. However I still feel that this list has value and I believe that it will be even better for your contribution. Again, thanks, Dan _____ From: gv...@warpdriveonline.com To: Texascavers@texascavers.com. List-Post: texascavers@texascavers.com Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 14:26:09 -0700 Subject: [Texascavers] Thoughts on OT postings One of the recent postings on off-topic discussions stated, "Some enjoy the OT subjects." I know that's true, but let's compare some numbers. By my count, there are about a dozen people who contribute the great majority of OT material. I've heard there are close to 200 people registered on TexasCavers.com <http://texascavers.com/> . That's not a very high number, especially considering that many subscribers don't live in Texas. I believe a big reason is the OT postings. I know at least 2 dozen cavers who over the past five years or so (two cavers within the past 3 weeks) have told me they canceled their subscriptions or refused to subscribe due to all of the OT postings. I can count at least 2-3 dozen additional cavers who have told me they are tempted to unsubscribe because of OT postings, but put up with them to get the rare snippet of caving information. If this is only what I've heard, I suspect the actual numbers are quite higher. Yes, people can click delete, but why should they? Do we embrace spammers and say "It's OK. Just hit delete if you don't want the information"? To subscribe, cavers go to www.texascavers.com <http://www.texascavers.com/> where it states "This list should be used for the exchange of information on Texas caving and related activities." So when cavers subscribe, they expect information that is related to caving, not non-caving information they didn't ask for. Just because a caver does, uses, believes, or is interested in something, doesn't make that cave related. The basic definition of spam is unsolicited, unwanted e-mail, and since most of the postings are OT, many cavers I've heard from consider most postings spam. I'm pretty sure no one signed up for that. The purpose of TexasCavers.com <http://texascavers.com/> is to "keep cavers informed about the latest developments and current events in Texas and the rest of the caving world." With at least 2 dozen cavers who have already run away due to OT postings, and at least as many considering unsubscribing for the same reason, TexasCavers.com <http://texascavers.com/> is failing at its purpose. Many cavers are not getting news from TexasCaver.com <http://texascaver.com/> or sharing their news with it. That is truly a shame. George Share life as it happens with the new Windows Live. Start sharing! <http://www.windowslive.com/share.html?ocid=TXT_TAGHM_Wave2_sharelife_01 2008> _____ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=51734/*http:/tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearc h/category.php?category=shopping> them fast with Yahoo! Search.
