Is It Just Me? (Cont.)

[Wendy St John]

I'm not going to quote what people have already said, as I'm on digest
right now. Besides, I'm addressing a whole bunch of comments by a whole
bunch of people,:-)

I complely agree that the main list is more than a bit unwieldy right now.
I actually posted a message about this to the list a couple of days ago, my
attempt at a reminder for people to be careful about what they post before
they post it - to try and check that you're not asking the same question 15
people posted last week, to refrain from replying to a post before reading
all the other posts in the thread (you know how 28 people will all answer a
one-line question before checking that someone else already answered it
first). I also talked a bit about the rules - snipping, Me Too posts, that
sort of thing, because I've been really disappointed with the quality of
the list lately. I posted it to the main list because I figured if I posted
it here, the vast majority of people who I feel need to read it wouldn't
have ever seen it.

Yesterday, I gave it a bit of thought and realised that I'm probably only
actually enjoying about 4 out of every 100 or so posts. I've taken to just
deleting posts on topics that don't interest me (SHIPs, plus a whole bunch
of other things). Most of this I would read if the overall volume was
lower, but I don't have unlimited time (who does?), so I'm mostly following
Snape stuff and a few others. So, after deleting about 70 percent of the
posts unopened, I'm STILL finding an overwhelming majority of posts with
six pages of unsnipped stuff to scroll down through, just to find "Me Too!"
ARGH!!!! As someone already mentioned, these people CAN NOT have read the
FAQ. Well, when I joined this group a year and a half ago, I was actually
rather intimidated - it was obvious that the rules were taken very
seriously and that one had better follow them or risk being hated by
everyone and getting lots of howlers. <G>

I know that the mods and elves are swamped, and I think they're doing a
marvelous job, but the fact is that the list has gotten a bit out of
control. It's not just newbies that aren't following the rules now, some
old timers have slipped as well. And we talk so much about how big the list
volume is, but the point is that if everyone was at least trying to be
conscientious about posting, the volume wouldn't be nearly as big! 

Others have argued that the newbies are just excited and that's why there
are so many repeat questions (ala the Thestral threads), and that we should
all just put up with a bit of that. Well, that attitude makes me angry,
frankly. We have rules here. Big rules, which are very clear.  I have
always done my personal best to follow them. And I've made the odd mistake
now and again, just like most of us have done. No one expects perfection.
But it's obvious that a lot of people just aren't even trying. Which is
really too bad. I re-read the entire Humongous Bigfile last night, and
pretty much all the things we've complained about in this thread are
AGAINST THE RULES. I have heard that the mods are going to work on more
reminders about proper posting guidelines now that list volume has gone
down a bit, and I'm sure that will help. But for now, I'm just discouraged.

As for starting a sister group, I'm actually now a member of another group
where we're planning to have canon discussions (although that's not the
sole function of the group). I totally agree though, that I don't want to
leave this group and leave behind so many of the posters from days gone by
whom I've so enjoyed reading. Cindy, Pippin, Eileen, Elkins - there are
tons of others, too. Don't assume I don't love you if I haven't listed your
name! :-) Thing is, though, none of them seem to be posting to the main
list anymore, anyway. So I'm afraid we've already lost the input from some
of the "old crowd." And that's just a d*mned shame.

I've decided to take a break from the main list - I'm weaning myself of by
going to digest for the time being, so I can still scan for interesting
posts. I am torn about this, as I love this group, I love participating in
this group, and I've come to have warm feelings about lots of the people
here. But right now I'm NOT enjoying the group very much, and it's become a
big drain of my time for a relatively small return. Maybe in a few months
this batch of newbies will have settled in, and there won't be so many
rubbish posts. But until that happens, I want to spend the bulk of my time
somewhere else. I almost wonder if the idea of another group isn't a good
idea. For there to be an "intro" group - "HP for newbies" or something, and
once people have gotten all the thestral and gleam questions out of their
systems, they can "graduate" to a group where the level of discussion can
be higher, and more in-depth. Not sure how to go about this, though, and
I'm sure there are some who'll find this an elitist attitude. I'm not an
elitist. I'm happy for all to participate - as long as we're all following
the same rules and treating one another with respect, that is. That's not
elitism. That's just me wanting to be treated the way I treat others. 

Ah well. There's my rant. Thanks for listening. :-)

Wendy

Wendy St John
hebrideanblack at earthlink.net