From: "Willem-Jan Markerink" To: eos@avocado.pc.Helsinki.fi Date sent: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 13:21:18 +0100 Subject: OFF-TOPIC, THE BOTTOM LINE (Re: EOS: going off topic....what's o Priority: normal Send reply to: eos@avocado.pc.Helsinki.fi On 21 Oct 99 at 22:08, Plumviewer wrote: > STEVEC wrote: > > I joined the list because I was getting a bit bored with ... endlessly > > > banging on about how great their Nikon/Bronica/Canon was compared to > > someone elses Minolta/Pentax/Mamiya.> > > Unfortunately this list gets criticized (elsewhere) for shooting > everyone down, including Canon. Hey, why doesn't anyone forward such lovely compliments to me?....:-)) > > I hoped that by going to an EOS dedicated list I would find more questions > > and answers in discussions of relavence to me.> > > > > I'm not sure I'm going to stick around for the day to day chat, and I'll > > explain why: > > > > I have EOS equipment, but I like to take photos with it, not just sit in all > > day drooling over catalogues of equipment. ... a recent sender ... asking a > > question about B&W film under flourescent l > ghts, was chastised... Another mailer who asked about an affordable tripod > [wasn't, but should have been and so should the "affordable tripod poster and > those inquiring about the best backpack for E S equipment]. ...> > > It's only relative politeness that kept each of the posters above from > being chastised. That, and the fact that I refuse to spank each and every offender, each and every time....I have better things to do with my time.... (and we do have repeat offenders, both with questions & replies, even when asked for PRIVATE replies!) > Politeness runs relatively high here and most flames > come from those who didn't like being asked or told to conform to list rules. Including those who, when subscribing on the web site, clicked the 'I confirm I have read the EOS-Mailinglist-FAQ', while they in fact did not read it, or at least did not understand a silly thing from it. In a cynical, philosophical way, applying Kant & all, it comes down to this question: "Do I, as responsible list-maintainer, condone each & every off-topic question (AND public replies, instead of private replies), at the cost of driving EOS-dedicated subscribers & experts away?" "OR: do I ban off-topic questions, thereby forcing those wanting to learn more about photography in general, to the abundance of OTHER mailinglists & newsgroups?" Note that this is the all-or-nothing concept behind it....there is a large twilight zone inbetween, but if off-topic offenders start demanding they can post off-topic stuff, then a) they show they didn't read the FAQ at all, and b) they force me to stick to the formal concept. And that formal concept is plain & simple: this list was created to discuss EOS & related equipment, it was not created as a mirror for other generic photo mailinglists/newsgroups.... Take it or leave it....literally. This is NOT a democracy, NOR will the rules bend to concensus otherwise. And, for all those who OBVIOUSLY missed the pointers to other mailinglists/forums/newsgroups in the EOS-FAQ: http://www.psych.helsinki.fi/mailman/listinfo/eos Or see my homepage for: 1) a link to the PhotoForum site, where you can find a large overview of photo related mailinglists 2) a chapter listing all Usenet photo newsgroups in clickeable format http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/mainpage.htm -- Bye, Willem-Jan Markerink The desire to understand is sometimes far less intelligent than the inability to understand [note: 'a-one' & 'en-el'!] ------------------------------------------------------ Eos maillist - Eos@psych.helsinki.fi http://www.psych.helsinki.fi/mailman/listinfo/eos From: "Willem-Jan Markerink" To: eos@avocado.pc.Helsinki.fi Date sent: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 13:35:24 +0100 Subject: Re: EOS: RE: going off topic....what's off topic? Priority: normal Send reply to: eos@avocado.pc.Helsinki.fi On 21 Oct 99 at 22:25, Chris Houston wrote: > Steve, > > I do agree with you about the number of e-mail's, and have a suggestion to > make, I have been on a Web Development List for nearly 3 years now, and on > that list, everyone asks questions, and then everyone else replies direct to > the question originator, who then posts a summary of all replies. This greatly > reduces the number of messages. But it kills the intuitive, interactive & social aspects of a discussion forum (and social still meaning 'within the boundaries of the topic of this list'!) Mailinglists without a 'reply-to-list' feature are not the living things they should be....and reply-to-author will also make sure that a lot of good info goes lost....what if someone is too lazy to post that summary? I also don't have much confidence in other people's summarizing skills....and you would ignore sub-interactions involving wrong replies, correcting people down the line....no such thing in a summary. > The first word in the message subject is always either QUESTION: , SUMMARY: or > INFO: > > Prehaps we could all do the same here ? No....it goes against the spirit & nature of a public discussion forum.... Actually, I HATE lists who lack this default reply-to-list feature....simply because I KNOW I will a) miss many excellent replies, and b) because any answer I type won't be seen by many others, having the same questions (and for which typing it a second time is just too much work). -- Bye, Willem-Jan Markerink The desire to understand is sometimes far less intelligent than the inability to understand [note: 'a-one' & 'en-el'!] ------------------------------------------------------ Eos maillist - Eos@psych.helsinki.fi http://www.psych.helsinki.fi/mailman/listinfo/eos