Main List Problems

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

I've become a curmudgeon who no longer wishes Happy Birthdays on OT, 
but *please* don't start a new list: I already have more lists than I 
have time to read!

Wendy St John wrote:

<< 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. >>

I read and enjoyed your post (and those of James Redmont and others 
who are trying to educate the ignorant posters) but I've gotten the 
feeling that the people who don't read the answers to their questions 
don't read ADMIN or advisory posts either, so I am considering 
assigning myself to a one-purrson QUEST to educate them by sending 
individual off-list e-mails to the offenders (polite, gentle e-mails 
that don't let them know they're "offenders") but that would add so 
much time to the already burdensome task of reading a week's posts 
(which kept me up til 5AM this morning last night).

Silmariel wrote:

<< You seem to know each other, as a group, so maybe you are 
coordinated enough to select some topics for discussion and launch 
them. >>

Not all newbies are ignorant newbies. Don't iron your hands.

I personally vote against discussion topics or chapter discussions: I 
feel that would only INCREASE list volume, and high volume (much of 
the excess consisting of "noise") is part of the problem, as Cindy C 
said.

Kirstini wrote:

<< The last response I made was to email a newbie who was objecting 
to SILK GOWNS being used as an acronym because no-one in canon wore a 
silk gown, and say something along the lines of "well, you're new. 
Obviously you don't know how we do things around here", which I'm now 
despising myself for. >>

Don't despise yourself! I loved your post -- I was so glad that 
someone was brave enough to say that.

<< everyone is mourning the fact that their favourite posters aren't 
posting anymore. >>

Therefore, I am not anyone's favorite poster. QED. *sniffle* 
(Actually, I didn't expect that I was.)

Pshemekan wrote:

<< OTOH I think there is easy way to fix (although not 100% nice): 
now moderators accepts any letter based on it's formal value -- 
proper quoting and is it on topic. I think that they should block 
e-mails based on it's merit. I mean, they should stop all those -- 
"Why Harry didn't saw thestrals in GOF". Some letters should never be 
seen by us >>

I think that would be an effective but not easy solution: newbies 
stay moderated a little while, during which moderators reject/return 
their posts for asking questions that are already in the VFAQ or OoP 
FAQ, with a boilerplate explanation about the FAQs, and reject/return 
their posts for inadequate snipping, again with a boilerplate 
explanation. The problem is: so many posts, so few Mods and Elves.

Dan Darkthirty wrote:

<< We should, though, have a place where people keep their theses, 
and develop them. >>

I don't have a problem with theories being developed on the main 
list. But I have recently been wondering if I need a webpage page to 
store my theories, to which I could refer posters about Number of 
Students and Wizarding Economy and so on, instead of keeping my 
theories in .txt files and pasting them into reply posts, thus adding 
to list volume. Btw IIRC I said something nice about you on Main List 
yesterday, but I don't remember what.