Greg,

Even though you value these folks' opinions, haven't they made it clear
that they're willing to forego reading your "mildly" off-topic questions
in favor of trying not to deal with anything which is off-topic for the list?

I think that if you value people's opinions, then you should value their
time and energy as much and allow them to deal only with the missives that
they choose to.  There are plenty of folks on the list (and the newsgroup,
to which we mirror "OT:" posts) that will see your correspondence.

Just an (off-topic) thought,
Adam Dorritie

Greg Stigers <[log in to unmask]>
 writes

> It seems that the only option is to no longer label such question OT.
> That, or label them, knowing that some people whose opinions I value will
> never see them.

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