Keith A. McGavern wrote: > So what is the problem here. There may not be as much of one as I thought after I had a chance to read the digest thoroughly. Many of my feelings about the situation resulted from Alan Crane's parting shot at the people of Pianotech when he unsubscribed. And what I've read so far indicates, that you are going to limit membership to a select few. So whatever I said is moot now! The material I read in the CAUT LIST which disturbed me is as follows: <snip> The volume of postings on PIANOTECH is more than I have time to deal with and the merely conversational and/or "cute but pointless" posts make the problem worse. Also, it is my impression that the technical level of discussions on PIANOTECH has been steadily moving toward the elementary (which, perhaps, is better suited to chapter technical sessions than the list) *and* that more and more of the advice given comes from less qualified voices than I might wish (of course, I may be off the wall on this but it *is* my "gut" impression)...no offense meant to anyone. BTW, I would guess that this list is currently "open". I wouldn't want to limit subscribership to only CAUTs as there are others (Stanwood, Fine, Spurlock, etc.) who made major contributions to PIANOTECH discussions in the early days when it was primarily the CAUT forum. I think they also benefited, as did we all, from the list when it was smaller (volume-wise) and less unwieldy. Does it make sense to try *some* form of list management of CAUT in the short run? Don't ask me what form that management might take...I haven't any ideas so far :) Regards, Alan Crane, RPT Dear Alan, CAUT list, I feel it is very reasonable to consider list management in some form for posting to the CAUT list, however minimal. One initial step that could be taken to accomplish a semblance of list management is to ask of all CAUT subscribers, when posting to the CAUT list, to sign each post with credentials of their involvement with a college and/or university. It would create credibility for the list's namesake. Each CAUT subscriber, once having understood the general wishes of the CAUT list, who might choose to ignore this simple request (should that actually ever occur), would be considered showing a form of disrespect or discourteousness to the others. Since there is a PIANOTECH list for all other piano type related material, I don't feel the CAUT list should be considered by non-CAUT persons as intentionally exclusive other than for its intended purpose, a forum for college and university technicians. FYI: Prior to this post, current subscribers to the PIANOTECH list showed 298, subscribers to CAUT list showed 28. Sincerely, Keith A. McGavern Keith says; >FYI: Prior to this post, current subscribers to the PIANOTECH list showed >298, subscribers to CAUT list showed 28. Whew!! Then it is possible that we may get some relief from the inane and banal. Just call me Vandy Ed, I will probably forget to keep my ID current. What we gotta have is a cop!. Somebody who will post a mean FAQ. I am not sure what keeps a list really strong, but I know that the "Tuning" list, hosted out of Mills college, is remarkable. Every post on that thing is worth reading, ( almost). Perhaps the attitude of the list's original, hard-core "28" will be self-perpetuating. There is liable to be some flaming, I been feeling the urge to be less civil at times, myself. Ol' Vandy Ed <snip> > Warren, what you call "a bunch of back-patting" could easily be nothing > more than sincere fellowship. I agree. I also agree that my original statement was too strong and too general, and I apologize to anyone I may have offended by my comments. But I also remember when I first came on PIANOTECH, it was a dynamic place, full of fun and fellowship and loaded with all kinds of technical info of all kinds. You never knew what you'd find next! Anything you asked about, you'd get several answers pronto! It was marvelous! Then the tail started wagging the dog! Six to ten members started complaining about content and humor on the list and the whole spirit of the group went down the tubes in a few weeks. People were afraid to include a friendly comment to a friend for fear of getting flamed! People were unsubscribing right and left! People were afraid to venture their opinions on the list for fear of being castigated. Many of the people doing the complaining were CAUT'S. I contributed to the change when I started my Humor List. >Please, don't let the other lists and those > who subscribe to them become a scapegoat just because they wish to have a > specific purpose. I have no intention of making anyone a "scapegoat"! My point is you are dealing with human nature here. You can either have an open public forum or a private monitored one. There is not a whole lot in between! If you are discussing techniques and issues of general interest to the technician public then they will want to hear them and if they feel they have something to contribute, they will put in their two cents worth. Then, pretty soon you'll have another PIANOTECH and another 100 messages a day to delete. The process is called entropy! And finally Keith, I can meet your list requirements, but like Jim B., I think I'll cool it for now! I'm sure that breaks your heart! :-) Sincerely, Warren Fisher (the secret CAUT) -- Home of the Humor List Warren D. Fisher fish@communique.net Registered Piano Technician Piano Technicians Guild New Orleans Chapter 701
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