Implosion

[Stephen Kobrin <kobrins@wharton.upenn.edu>]

I have subscribed to several mail lists on diverse topics related to my
research interests.  Most imploded, and did so very quickly, when the
postings got off the topic that brought the participants together in the
first place and turned personal and nasty. The noise to signal ratio got to
the point where it just was not worthwhile to subscribe any longer.

While we share a limited number of common interests, I suspect there are a
very large number upon which we disagree violently.  If we stick to our
shared interests -- Leica and photography -- and do so civilly, we will
markedly increase the odds of survival of a international discussion from
which, I for one, enjoy a lot and have learned a lot.

Steve