Fwd: [Hidden-tech] Question about list topics

[Ron Miller]

What you're seeing is a healthy cross-section of topics from a diverse 
group of people with a lot of different requirements.

There are lots of topics that don't interest me or I grow tired of. I 
simply ignore them or use my Delete key. All my Hidden Tech mail goes 
into a separate folder. I keep it separate from my main in-box, so I 
only deal with it when I have time or a subject strikes my fancy.

I belong to lots of groups. Many have a narrow focus, but it's 
impossible to ask people to confine the discussion to certain topics on 
a list this broad, and frankly, in my opinion, it's what makes this list 
interesting.

Ron



Mary Malmros wrote:
>   ** The author of this post was a Good Dobee.
>   ** You too can help the group
>   ** Fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
>   ** If you did, we all thank you.
> 
> 
> webmaster wrote:
>> [snip]
>> My question to Mary, and others, what basis leads you to:
>>    'discard the large majority of hidden-tech messages'
>> since I don't think the majority violate our rules.
>>   
> Well, it's been a few weeks since I emptied the trash, so let's look 
> through the trash and see what I've got from hidden-tech:
> 
>    - 5 posts on backup power
>    - 10 posts on best wiki software
>    - 28 posts on biznik
>    - 10 posts on blogs vs. newsletters
>    - 6 posts on cellphone reception
>    - 4 posts on collective printer
>    - 7 posts on copying video to DVD
>    - 6 posts on file sharing
>    - 13 posts on how to sell on ebay
>    - 10 posts on free web  hosting for nonprofits
>    - 5 posts for a house painter
>    - about half a dozen ads for office space or various goods and services
>    - about a dozen announcements
>    - about half a dozen job postings
>    - 5 posts on international mail
>    - 4 posts on PDF-to-text converters (that was mine)
>    - 4 posts on Massachusetts healthcare "reform" (mine again)
>    - 31  posts on music downloads
>    - 16 posts about promotion/self-promotion
>    - about a dozen looking for various tech- and business-related services
>    - 13 posts about what kind of computer to buy
>    - 4 video chat
>    - about 16 for web design for the Northampton Survival Center
>    - 11 posts about botnets
>    - 8 posts about windows security
> 
> I started a couple of those threads, and contributed to a couple more.  
> The messages cited ended up in my trash for a variety of reasons: 
> because I didn't know anything/have anything to contribute; because, 
> while I might have had something to contribute, I didn't consider them 
> on-topic; because it was an angels-on-pin discussion that I didn't want 
> to get into; because, while the actual discussion might have been 
> interesting and relevant, it was hidden by a subject line that screamed 
> "irrelevant!".  BTW, the "gimme info" thread that I started -- re PDF 
> converters -- I only did after spending several hours doing research and 
> finding myself unable to conclude from available info what product would 
> actually do what I wanted.  IOW, I didn't do it lightly.
>> And a further note, you can get the day's postings as a digest so you 
>> get one message per day -- personnally I prefer individual messages.
>>   
> You may find this paradoxical, but when I'm finding the wheat-to-chaff 
> ratio to be low, I find individual messages to be easier/better than a 
> digest.  I don't want to keep around a digest just for one useful bit of 
> information.
>> As a side note - as for clearing your inbox - that is what filters on
>> email clients are for.
>>   
> Hmm.  That's a bit...condescending, no?  More to the point, it's not 
> really a solution.  I've been using filters for as long as they've been 
> around, and I know how to filter out both subjects AND individuals that 
> I don't want to read.  If a thread comes along today titled, "Searching 
> for left-handed wankel rotary engine," I certainly know how to filter it 
> out.  How does that help when someone starts a thread tomorrow titled, 
> "Floor wax or dessert topping -- what's your opinion?"
> -- 
> Mary Malmros                        malmros at verizon.net
>     Some days you're the windshield, some days you're the bug
> 
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