John,

> ... these pro/con war/US threads are getting very boring.
> ... Please, please ... take it elsewhere. It was so
>pleasant on this list without it.

I would agree to a moratorium on OT posts IF such a containment policy
worked.  In other words if ALL OT posts would stop.   I mean all OT messages
no matter the subject.   It would be HP 3000 / MPE/iX related stuff or
nothing.  In my opinion that is what a real moratorium would look like.  But
(speaking of the attempt to contain Saddam!) I don't think a real moratorium
to contain OT posts will work for several reasons:

1.   As you say you contribute to OT threads on occasion and certainly read
many of them.  My recollection is that almost everybody who has commented on
this idea recently said something along those lines.

>I enjoy the OT stuff usually and have been quilty of contributing to
>it on occaision but these pro/con war/US threads are getting very boring.

2.   Many have said something like "stop the OT posts except, of course, is
for <fill-in-the-blank>".   It seems to me that if folks would be honest
they would say "Cut out the OT posts THAT I DON'T LIKE!  The ones that *I*
like of course are cool."    The factors seem to me to have everything to do
with personal interests of the moment,  how I am feeling at the time, and
all kind of other personal preferences.

That is the way I see it.   My reaction is that your request John is boring,
boring to me.   What appears meaningful to you is boring to me and perhaps
visa-versa.   I don't hear the will to cut out all OT posts -- and I mean
all off topic messages no matter what the topic.   You see I am often
"bored" by much of the other OT talk.

3.   For years what has really bothered me are the threads that start with a
serious technical question and degenerate either into another technical
topic or a OT subject.  The participants don't seem to have the courtesy to
change the subject line.  That is bad net-etiquette in my opinion but mine
seems to be a minority opinion.  As a result however many good technical
threads get "polluted" in that way.   At times I find that very  irritating.
So a OT moritorium would have to include all the OT spin-offs of legitimate
threads.

Until then I believe that many of these OT posts have significant social
value and importance.   I do not plan on unilaterally squelching myself.
We will have a multilateral agreement or the status-quo will continue.

I think the very terms I just use demonstrate one relevance of the political
threads.   Because your request John and this reply is a political
conversation.   I've been involved in SIG leadership long enough to know
that even technical leadership and advocacy is a political process.   We
learn to do it well or it will "do" us.

So John to answer your request:  I decline to accept it.  Here is my counter
offer.   It would mean of course that you would lobby the list to accept
terms along those lines.

Cortlandt Wilson
(650) 966-8555

>-----Original Message-----
>From: HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
>Behalf Of J Dunlop
>Sent: Friday, March 28, 2003 2:01 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] OT: A sobering answer
>
>
>Guys, guys.
>
>I enjoy the OT stuff usually and have been quilty of contributing to
>it on occaision but these pro/con war/US threads are getting very
>boring. We had a couple of days of peace and mostly technical HP3000
>posts which was a blessed relief after all the BS that came before but
>somehow it has started up again. Please, please Joe, Cortlandt, Fred,
>Brice, Ray, Wayne, Mark and others take it elsewhere. It was so
>pleasant on this list without it.
>
>Just my .02 Euros.
>
>Cheers,
>
>John Dunlop
>
>E-mail : [log in to unmask]      "If at first you don't succeed..
>Web : http://www.hp3000links.com    Don't take up sky-diving !"
>"All your HP e3000 resources on the Net"
>(Mirror: http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~jdunlop/index.html)
>
>* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
>* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *

* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *