Tom writes:

> I have always been using the rule that if a post is MPE-related, it is
>  on-topic, but if it isn't, it's off-topic. The other person suggested
>  another tag: SOT - somewhat on-topic. I'm afraid that if you if post too
>  many SOTs, you will become besotted.

Based on Tom's comment, I contacted Tom Ridge, the Director of Homeland
Security. Director Ridge is an old friend of mine and once I explained the
problem to him -- some people on HP3000-L really enjoy all of the off-topic
material, some like only a part of it, and some dislike essentially all of
it. Based on these comments, he immediately put his crack staff to work on a
new coding scheme. Here's the scheme his staff has come up with. It should
work to make everyone happy:

RWOT [Color Alert Level Red] Really wildly off-topic material. It most likely
has no connection to any form of computation. Tends towards discussion of
politics, religion and how dumb President Bush is.

WOT [Color Alert Level Orange] Wildly off-topic. Computers may or may not
mentioned anywhere in the text of the discussion somewhere. In general, less
inflamatory than Alert Level Red.

OT [Color Alert Level Yellow] Off-topic. Subjects not generally associated
with computers, computer related employment, but believed to be of general
interest. Science and science-related postings are common at this level, as
are jokes.

SOT [Color Alert Level Green] Somewhat off-topic. Computers, computation,
jobs in computers and trends in computation are almost certain to be
mentioned, but they are not MPE-specific.

OT [Color Alert Level Blue] On-topic. MPE-related subjects are virtually
certain to be mentioned in the course of the discussion.

Please set your email filters appropriately to recognize these tags to match
your level of tolerance.

You may have noticed that the tag "OT" appears in the list twice. I certainly
did and I mentioned this to Tom Ridge. He said that he noticed it too, but it
was the best his staff could do on such short notice. When the Department of
Homeland Security was set up, Congress didn't include the FBI and the CIA in
his agency and there's been some trouble getting the staff he does have up to
speed. Forest Rangers just aren't used to thinking in these terms.

However, he did say he will refer back this scheme to his staff's committee
and will get back to us in a few months.

Wirt Atmar

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