Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/12/16

[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]

Subject: Re: [Leica] Off topic posts
From: Brian Reid <reid@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2000 09:39:32 -0800

A little bit of political discussion, especially when it is informed
and not vituperative, can improve the quality of an email community.
The current situation in US national politics is not likely to generate
informed intelligent discussion, and has not been doing so. I have no
problem at all with a low level of messages about political theories,
political principles, and so forth. As long as most of the discussion
is about photography, it's fine to have some discussion about things
that photographers care about. But in the 25 years that I've been
moderating Internet email communities (yes, I started in 1975), I've
found that politics, religion, and abortion discussions, during times of
national angst about those topics, will drive away many of the most
valuable contributors to such communities. 

If you let too much highly-emotional off-topic traffic in, you tend to
lose older people who have seen it all so many times before and who
just don't want to go around that topic again. 

OT: speaking as a physics major with an engineering PhD, I can assure
you that keeping 500 pounds of canaries in the air does not change
the load on the undercarriage of a truck. 'tis a bird blivet no matter
how you arrange it.

Replies: Reply from Guy Bennett <guybnt@idt.net> (Re: [Leica] Off topic posts)
Reply from "Roland Smith" <roland@dnai.com> (Re: [Leica] Off topic posts)