DeTomaso Mailing List: November 97, Message #96
![[previous topic]](../images/prev_topic.gif)
![[index]](../images/index.gif)
![[next]](../images/next.gif)
![[next topic]](../images/next_topic.gif)
Here's my take on the current mailing list 'issues'. It's a little long and I welcome comments, flame and other chastisement. Executive summary for those so inclined: I like this list a lot and say live and let live. 1) There really aren't a lot of messages on this list. Yes, I know. _YOU_ may think so, but it's all relative. ;-) As a data point, I regularly get anywhere from 100-300 mail messages every day. And that doesn't count my Compuserve account... I subscribe to 14 mailing lists and the noise to info ratio on some of them is so bad, I'll be unsubscribing from a couple real soon now. Except the 'list mom' just jumped in on one group and it settled down real fast.... The point here is that once you get your Email program set up to filter messages, then it's dead easy to read the 'good ones' (as some people have pointed out) and blow away the 'bad ones' without even noticing that it happened. Of course, if you filter out 'Mad Dog', then you might miss some of his more illuminating and funny messages... Or if you filter out 'Kirby', you'll miss my drivel.... ;-)) And I should mention that some of this humor strikes me funny... There's been times when I've been laughing so hard at my desk that my boss came in and asked what the problem was! It was a message on this list... :-))) 2) With 10 years of Email experience and lots of mailing lists, I think I can say I've seen everything. Swearing, _real_ angry people, mail bombing, etc. etc. In other words, where there is more than one person involved, you will get disagreements, agreements, discussions and arguments. That's part of the information sharing! Personally, I say let people have their say. Even if it's not 'on topic'. These topics generally fizzle out after awhile and you'll forget they even occurred six months later... And heck... Like others have said, unsubscribing is easy... 8-)))) 3) A piece of advice that I read a long time ago is still relevant for me. Before you hit the send key, read your message back to yourself. If you can still say you wouldn't mind receiving a message like that yourself, then send away! If you think it might come on a little too strong, then back off and reword it or liberally sprinkle the 'smilies' around to lighten it up so that the recepient (and others) _knows_ you are joking! 4) You haven't seen anything yet... I hope Andy is ready for the day that the spammers find detomaso@realbig.com If Andy doesn't set the server up for filtering messages that don't belong to actual mailing list members, then that means _ANYONE_ can send as many messages as they want to the list and you will all get them! And personally, I have had enough Emails in my box about pyramid schemes and other get rich quick scams. And even with filtering from the server side, it is still very easy to spoof anyone's Email address and get through to the list. It just means the perpetrator needs to work a little harder; they'll still get there. Why haven't we seen anything yet? Either Andy (and Shane before) is darned good at server admin or the mailing list is just too young to have been noticed yet. My bet is on the latter... Had any experience with spammers yet, Andy? :-)))) 5) Go ahead and change the Subject: line if you are changing the content of the message enough. I've seen good info being discussed and the subject line doesn't have anything to do with the content (except very remotely...) and might be filtered out by general filters. Personally, I find all the blah blah blah interesting and it gives the mailing list the flavor it has! You get a much better feeling for what a person is like and you can fill out your mental picture of the person you'll not likely meet anytime soon. And once people get some of those images fleshed out, they might not even _want_ to meet them! :-)))) Just joking.... Sure, the technical info vs. the blah blah blah noise ratio has gotten poorer later, but as I said before, as the list matures, it'll lighten up. We'll probably not see the M**** word for very much longer. :-)) I find the info I get here to be EXTREMELY valuable and I won't be putting a filter on this particular group until the spammers get through... And then it'll be those messages and not the list members that get filtered. >From Kirby's 'For What It's Worth' Korner, Kirby Kirby Schrader Compuserve: kschrader@compuserve.com schrader@slb.com '71 Pantera #1661 '90 Thunderbird 35th anniversary special '78 Longchamp GTS #3001 The wife's... '76 Moto Guzzi LeMans Mark I http://mwd.sugar-land.anadrill.slb.com/8080: