OK, the recent noising on `SPAM' has finally gotten to the point that
I feel compelled to make a few points.
Point the first:
SPAM is posting the same article to mutiple newsgroups, often without
regard for the topic of the newsgroup.
NOISE is what most of the people here have been calling `SPAM',
comments that aren't totally on topic, are totally off topic, and,
often, meta-discussions.
Point the second:
Complaining about the noise is noise.
Point the third:
WWs reconfiguration of the list will prevent a great deal of the noise
from getting too awful, simply by making one pay a bit more attention
to what one is saying. (and it sets things so that when you want to,
say, ask an author about getting parts of a story you missed, you can
ask the author instead of the list with very little trouble, and no
need to remember to un-mung the to header. Something I forgot to do
on a post this evening.)
Point the fourth:
Self-censorship is often a good thing. In its most basic form it is
called netiquet(sp), and makes things like usenet and this list run.
It can go off the deep end, but I do not think that there is any
danger of that here.
Thank you,
Suika