ADMIN: We'd Like to Pick Your Brains About TBAY

[Richard]

I've spent a huge proportion of the last three days working on a 
message with my ideas and replies to the original "questionnaire" 
which started this list, and it's growing all the time. I suspect it 
might never be posted... 

I'll take a break from that by commenting on this particular issue 
(which saves me from including these comments in my mega-post 
anyway...).

I must make a disclaimer, in that despite having been a HPFGU member 
for almost two years, I've been a very sporadic follower of the main 
list since mid-June. Apart from the ballooning of the number of 
posts, I was away for two sets of two months and simply haven't had 
the time, although I occasionally browse for new topics.

As such, my views aren't really on what's happening on the list 
*now*, and more particularly on what's happening in *TBAY* now. 

To be perfectly honest, I perceive TBAY as something of a mess. I 
joined HPFGU shortly after TBAY started and I simply couldn't 
understand (and continue not to understand) why some people would go 
to the time and trouble of writing ten or twenty paragraphs to put 
across a point that could have been (more?) successfully dealt with 
in three. I appreciate that TBAY authors derive a great deal of 
pleasure from writing in that style, but it simply doesn't appeal to 
me, neither as observer nor as potential participant. I recall once 
describing it as too "twee" for my taste, a comment which generated a 
few raised eyebrows (in good humour). I stand by that comment. 

Occasionally, if I have time, I have been known to browse through 
TBAY posts. In the past, I've even replied to a few (in "standard" 
format). The scary thing is that I've read enough TBAY posts to 
understand what's going on and to understand all (well, maybe not 
*all*, but most of) the metaphors, and even to recognise some of the 
voices.

However, one thing I noticed even before I stopped reading the main 
list in June is that many people attempt the format and end up 
saying, well, nothing. I don't mean to offend anyone, but I'd 
describe some TBAY posts I've seen as little more than verbal 
diarrhoea. And many more come very, very close. 

As I said, I know that TBAY authors enjoy the format and I have no 
intention or desire to limit their enjoyment. Nevertheless, I hope 
that TBAYers continue to accept that the format doesn't appeal to 
everyone, and some of us prefer the staightforward cut and thrust of 
debate-counterdebate rather than the incessant (sorry) "waffle" which 
may or may not hide a point worth debating. And that sometimes an 
idea put forward in a TBAY post will be responded to in the "standard"
format.

I would also like to remind people that regardless of the format of 
messages, the main list remains canon-based and AFAIK, TBAY posts 
have not been exempt from this requirment.