Warning to people who are reading this.  This is a rant on my part.  I do not
intend this to be a flame, though it may become a borderline one.  If you don't
want to read this, delete now.  Though most of you who will delete it are 
probably the ones I'm aiming this towards, so you'll miss what I'm trying to
say.

On Tue, 13 Aug 1996, Stephan Bennett wrote:

In truth tho, I see not your problem

That, I think, *is* the main problem - that so many of the loudest people
on this list don't realize why others would be disenchanted with it.  If
everyone understood that there are people out there who don't appreciate
chatty in-jokes between a small proportion of the list (I think White Wolf
has said there are about 200 subscribers to this list.  Now, just judging
by how many different people actually post, how many would you *think*
there are?  Twenty, maybe?  Perhaps even thirty?  Perhaps not even that?)
or people writing two-page messages just to *bap* each other, or pun wars
or things like that.  If they *did* realize that, then maybe we could work
out a mutually agreeable solution - but as things are going, it seems more
and more likely that the social participants are going to drive the
pure-on-topic participants away.  Disappointing, to me, but hey, at least
the list won't have quite as many fanfics to get in the way of your
weather reports.

I've avoided this topic in the past, because it is one of the few the really 
annoys me and I didn't really want to add fuel to the fire.  As a mater of fact,
this sort of topic is one of the few I will usually delete without reading.
However, I have this to say.  Over this past summer, I have seen the ML move
several times closer to being on topic and relevant.  The spam, while it may
seem huge to some people, is only a fraction of what it used to be.  The 
signal to noise ratio is improving greatly, and I *STILL* see people trying
to kill it.  I think one of the nicest aspects of this list is that we can get
together and be sociable, while expanding our literary talents in character
(ie. .sigs) interactions.  This aspect is one of the more interesting parts of 
the ML, and I for one would be sad to see it go.  Probably to the point where
I'd leave the list.  Fanfics are great, but i like to be able to interact with 
people and joke around.  I've met a number of good friends on this list that I 
probably wouldn't have if it weren't for the spammy interactions.  I do 
understand what you say about the noise, especially in the past, but I think 
your also not realizing what those of us who spam see in the ML.  The 'net is a 
good place where people can relax and unwind with others in ways that aren't 
possible in RL interactions.  I find too many people starting to take things 
too seriously here, which is a major component in all of the arguments I've 
seen showing up on the 'net lately between people.  What I'm trying to say is 
that this is the 'net, not RL, so relax.  Don't take things so seriously.
those who want to improve the signal/noise ratio have won some serious victories
in the past few months, so can't you be happy with what you've got and spare
the rest of us a lot of unnecessary headaches with all the arguing?  Thats
the only type of Spam that i find really annoying.  Right now the list is
between extremes, so can't we all be happy with what we've got now and stop
trying to dominate the list with our own pet views of how things should be?
The only one here who has that right is White Wolf.  he is the one who should
decide the right signal/noise ratio, not the rest of us.

My apologies to everybody for this rant, but its been building up in me for
a while.

--
Scott Johnson |
zagyg@io.com  |            This space intentionally left blank.

Stargazer
Wayne Pillion
stargaze@world.std.com
starman@expert.cc.purdue.edu