Re: RARA-AVIS: Subject Matter

Laurent Lehmann (llehmann@club-internet.fr)
Tue, 25 Nov 1997 07:41:15 +0000 A few thoughts on off-topic posting...

First : Bill, it's your list and we're only posting to it. So whatever
you say we shouldn't post, we won't. But are off-topic digressions such a
really bad thing (I honestly don't know. I still haven't read the whole
casting thread).

OT digressions seems more to me like a sign of maturity on a mailing
list/newsgroup, when subscribers feel comfortable enough which each other
to talk about 'fringe' subjects dear to their hearts, even though they are
loosely related to the group's charter.

( For instance : I'm on many mailing lists. My favorite is devoted to
comics legend Jack Kirby. There are lots of OT postings on other comics
artists and writers, but nobody complains about it. It feels natural, and
it's ridiculously easy to link Kirby with any other person working on US
comics in the last 60 years. )

OT discussionsthat don't appeal to the group don't last long, so I'd just
say "live and let die". But of course, Bill, it's your judgement call,
and if you feel a thread has gone too long or too off-topic, you're free
to kill it. But please, don't consider only the list charter when taking
such a decision.

Laurent
________
"It was his story against mine, but of course I told my story better"
Humphrey Bogart in _In A Lonely Place',
From Hardboiled, by Peggy Thompson and Saeko Usukawa
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