Jeff brings up some good points.  I would like to add these thoughts for
consideration.

A few people complain about the OT threads on this list, but I notice that
the count of recipients of OT messages is very similar to the count of
non-OT messages when I send a message to this list.  This tells me very few
people have exercised the OT filtering.  I realize this was mentioned a few
days ago, but stay with me on this.  Now, the non-OT posts have never, to my
knowledge been ignored or not posted in time because of an OT thread.
(Actually, there were a few instances of the list reaching a daily quota a
few times some years back, but if I remember the topic it was something
incredibly silly.)  If the OT posts were to interfere with the on topic
posts AND if the number of people blocking these posts were at least a
reasonable fraction of the total audience, then I would say that OT posts
should be reduced or eliminated.  But this is not the case here.

A few more thoughts.  The HP 3000 is coming to EOL and there has really been
no new development on MPE in quite a while.  I do not want to say that all
questions have been answered, but there are very few new questions now.  The
FAQs are very good, the list archives are excellent, only some of the more
esoteric questions seem to get posted now.  And, as I pointed out, these
questions get answered very quickly, regardless of the OT load.

I have also noticed that people complain when there are not posts whatsoever
on the list.  It is difficult to believe that you could fill the bucket, so
to speak, with on-topic posts only.  Those days are gone.

I would venture to say a lot of OT posts are placed here by people who know
they will not get flamed or attacked the way I have seen other lists behave.
Everyone here is a professional and many of us personally know a lot of the
frequent and less frequent posters.  It has been my privilege and my great
pleasure to meet many of you over the years and I look forward to continuing
to do so for years to come.

It is also refreshing to see people who may have very different points of
view about a certain subject jump in and help each other whenever help is
requested.  Again, this goes back to the professionalism and the civility
found on this list, which is something rare in this world.

Denys

-----Original Message-----
From: HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
Jeff Woods
Sent: Monday, February 17, 2003 7:33 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: seeking a bit of list guidance

At  10:26 AM 2/17/2003, Bill Brandt wrote:
>I will start putting an "OT" in front of the subject

It is "OT:".  See my prior rant at:
http://raven.utc.edu/cgi-bin/WA.EXE?A2=ind0212a&L=hp3000-l&F=&S=&P=1214

At this point, I'm almost willing to accept almost anything concerning
computers as "on-topic".

At the risk of committing a major breech of netiquette I'll quote a message
I received off-list from a frequent "wildly off topic" contributor to
HP3000-L:
>However, if the group is to change and merely become a social club,
>discussing the latest trends in computing and digital cameras, then I
>would undoubtedly go. I too am an adult. I have no interest in long-winded
>off-topic subjects (unless they're really long-winded and truly off-topic).

Personally, I happen to find commentary on digital cameras of great
interest.  However, mailing lists and newsgroups are topical and I think
for good reason.  And the one thing that really annoys me are non-technical
"religious arguments" on a technical forum.  I consider anything
controversial where speculation and/or subjective assessment determines the
"winner" a "religious argument"; e.g. vi-emacs, bash-ksh-csh-sh,
Qedit-ProgrammerStudio, Charmin-Scott, Kenmore-GE, Bush-Gore,
Nixon-Kennedy, et cetera ad nauseum.

And remember, people, this is an international list.  There are a lot of
folks reading this that are *not* United States citizens.  Let's not act
like North America is the only possible center of the universe.

FWIW, after at least 9 years of almost continuous HP3000-L and
comp.sys.hp.mpe participation I'm about ready to throw in the towel on this
forum.

--
Jeff Woods
[log in to unmask]
"Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one
end and no sense of responsibility at the other." -- Ronald Reagan, 1965
"Life is too short to be spent as a cog in somebody else's machine." -- F.
Alfredo Rego, 1997-12-04 on HP3000-L
"A moment's thought would have shown him. But a moment is a long time, and
thought is a painful process." -- A. E. Housman
"Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created
them." -- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
"Learn to listen to your own voice and balance your terror with your
confidence." -- Richard Wurman
"Many people would sooner die than think. In fact they do." -- Bertrand
Russell

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