Fools Rush In

[john at walton.to]

Oops...the title is very appropriate as I just sent this to the wrong list. 
::rolls eyes:: Well done, John...

Ebony AKA AngieJ said:

> Also, John, the one-post-a-day restriction isn't prohibitive at
> all... if you want to answer multiple threads, you answer them all in
> one post OR you respond to the thread that you can contribute the
> most to.  And there's not this idea on that particular list on heavy
> Mod enforcement, so it's not like they monitored member posts.  It's
> in the club FAQs so new members know.

As I said, I think it would be a great idea -- IF people read the FAQs in
the first place! The great newbies already do, and that's wonderful, and we
love them dearly, and they become assimilated into the group almost
instantaneously. HOWEVER, the people who don't read the FAQs post umpteen
factual question messages and then wonder why people get a trifle snippy
when saying "Look at this page at the Lexicon/in the VFAQ/in the
abbreviations file". This leads to bad list karma and newbie barbecue, so
the list gets a bad name because hErMoiNE_LuvR_2001 was told in no uncertain
terms to RTFM. (Read The Footling Manual)

> I have broken the one-post-a-day rule on KS at least a half dozen
> times... BUT because such a rule existed, I was mindful every time I
> broke it and tried to make sure my postings were relevant.  The
> unspoken Netiquette is "one post a day, two if it's an emergency" and
> it does help keep volume way, way down and discussion at a higher
> level IMO.

I'm sure it does and I'm not calling that into doubt at all. The problem is,
as I said above, the people who obey it are the ones who aren't going to
flood the list with not-too-great messages. The people who disobey it are
going to ignore whatever decision we make, and the issue that I have with
this idea is its enforceability. Short of giving an Elf the unenviable task
of looking through an entire 24-hour period of messages for doubles or
triples, there really is no way to do it that I can see. If I'm missing
something, please yell now.

> I think such a posting cap ought to have been instituted a while
> back.  As it stands, I really think it's too late to do anything
> about it now anyway.

I agree that it's too late to do anything about it now, and will cheerfully
disagree with you about posting caps. ::schnoogle::

> Just trying not to complain without bringing up viable solutions.

I sincerely appreciate that. ::another schnoogle::

--John
________________________________

John Walton -- john at walton.to

"Correction.  Last week's column mistakenly identified a source.  The
European Commission President is Romano Prodi, not Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Second Hand regrets the error." --Prague Post, Czech Republic.
________________________________