This List and Us

[Carol Beigel]

Hello all!   I would like to jump into the fray with my ten cents worth
about what we as piano technicians and this list are about.

1.  All of us, whether we service 3 or 30 pianos a week, deal with technical
issues, clients good and bad, each other, cat pee and rodents, and ptg
goings-on knowingly or not.  It's all in a days work, so it's not surprising
that it is part of our "mail".

2.  To reduce complaints about too many postings, two things can help.
First, subscribe to this list in digest form (set pianotech mail digest).
About every other day, it comes in a nice, neat little package.  Second,
the (review) command gives a list of everyone on the list, over 240 now, and
their e-mail addresses.  Replies can often be sent to the individual posting
question more appropriately than to the entire list.  Especially the flames!
Before posting to this list, it might be helpful to ask yourself: "Is what I
am about to say what I want over 240 people in my profession to hear, and
reflect kindly upon me?"

3.  I suspect that college and university technicians got the jump on this
list because the internet was started as a way for the military to
communicate with their contractors at universities.  Since universities had
the systems in place, CUT's were more likely to have the computer access.
The internet has grown faster than a mutating virus this past year, and
access to on-line services is now available to anyone with $20 month to
spare.  Those "good old days" of just CUT's only lasted a few hours. The
internet is funded by everyone.

4.  Our list, our guild, our profession, our relationships with one another,
are what we make them.  We can soar or dive, encourage or flame, be helpful
or vindictave, etc.  Freedom is the choice.  It works best when we choose to
conduct ourselves responsibly; treating each other as we would like to be
treated.

Holiday greetings to all,       "Ask 5 piano tuners their opinion, and
Carol Beigel, RPT               you will get 7 different answers!"
College Park, Maryland