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[Ron Torrella]

On Thu, 5 Jan 1995, Bill Spurlock, RPT wrote:

> Along those same lines, I've wondered if it would help to establish some
> sort of protocol for subscribers -- sort of a statement of purpose for
> the forum -- to encourage messages that are most likely to be of general
> interest. At the risk of sounding snobbish, I find some messages to be
> the electronic equivalent of "junk mail"; for example, personal messages
> between two parties that are copied to the entire list, or series' of
> messages containing nothing but clever one-liners.

<ouch>
Perhaps we should have an editor for PIANOTECH, eh Bill?

> Unlike paper junk mail, it is impossible to know the contents of E-mail
> without downloading it. It gets annoying to pay connect time charges and
> file download fees, not to mention spending time opening, reading, and
> deleting messages, only to find many of them are just chatty exchanges.

Without said editor, who's going to decide what's junk and what's not?

> I'm not suggesting that messages have to be dry and humorless, but for
> my money when I download the day's messages, it would be nice to know
> they were going to be as pertinent and useful as the Tips or Q&A
> sections of the Journal. I've heard the same sentiments from a couple of
> others. Thoughts, anyone?

How about we include some kind of indication, a code of some sort,
that'll warn "paying subscribers" that a particular article is just
fluff.  I have to agree that sending personal notes through the list is a
little annoying -- OTOH, I've had to go back and post notes publicly
that had been sent privately because someone remarked "in public" about
something in the note.  Inevitably, when something like that happens,
your box is immediately flooded with inquiries as to the content of the
original note, so....

By and large, I think the bulk of what's been coming through lately has
been anything *but* fluff.  It's mostly, ... well ... _stuff!_

Ron Torrella                  "Dese are de conditions dat prevail."
School of Music                           --Jimmy Durante
University of Illinois