signal to noise (was annoying)

[A440A@AOL.COM]

<< It is getting increasingly

> annoying to  find so much time spent on such piano-related questions as

> "Looks" and other innocuous non-piano related subjects.  

Greetings, 
    This is a common malady of lists.  They become a social outlet for some 
members and EVERYBODY'S mailbag begins to clog up like the arteries on a 60 
year old dairy farmer who likes a few sausages with his morning eggs.  
Publicly shushing someone lights the usual flaming personality conflict and 
the whole list suffers boatloads of angst e-mails.  We are a temperamental 
lot, ( oh mercy,  was that a dangerous pun?).   
    So, you can't go slamming someone over trash postings without becoming 
your own worst enemy.  What to do?
    Would all posters think of their postings as technical contributions to a 
topic?  We would have valuable info here with little clutter.  Once before 
the list got a cramp in its info flow, and it began to clog with chit-chat. 
There was a smack-down or two and voila! another list  split off from here, 
the MPT list.  That is a good place for social postings, and private email is 
perfect for personal attacks, but this list?  I come here to find out stuff 
about pianos. 
     
    The more off-topic postings there are on the list, the less value it will 
have and the fewer really busy, progressive techs will afford the time it 
takes to wade through the brush, even with a good delete button.  We then 
miss out on what they might contribute, because non-technical traffic deters 
them from even joining in. 
      It is a simple signal to noise problem.  Is this a list for technicians 
to exchange technical info, or a place for techs to socialize?   I move for 
the former, as the latter is of interest to fewer people and a good 
alternative already exists on another list. 
    So, a technical thing here...... 
    I have long used Steinway damper felt.  They are sometimes hard to work 
with,  but I have been able to get them quieter than other felts.  What 
really sogs my Wheaties is how often the treble blocks have been cut crooked. 
 I have recently been told that ordering the Hamburg damper felts is the way 
to get really square blocks on the tri-chord dampers,  that there was a 
difference.  Anybody here have experience to corraborate this?  
Regards, 
Ed Foote RPT