<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> A fine post which echos my own sentiments to the nth degree and then some. RicB Robert Goodale wrote: <blockquote TYPE=CITE><style></style> Well... my personal piece of mind:I have been on this list continuously now for about six years.  I have seen many names come and go over the years.  Some leave and come back, others have never returned.  Frequently some new blood appears.  With so many new people it is no wonder that the same topics recycle again and again with each new generation.  Sometimes people get upset with each other.  Then it passes and all is right again.  "Off topics" have littered the list since the beginning.  I suspect they always will.  Sometimes there is humor, sometimes they are serious. We've talked about pianos in general, pianists, technical, tuning, rebuilding, customers not paying bills, advertising, public schools, universities, budgets, conventions, trade shows, dealers, other technicians, insurance, financing, general business topics, cats peeing in pianos, pianos in floods, pianos in fires, pianos that should be burned, vandalism, glue, strings, hammers, springs, fees, brands, manufacturing, refinishing, wheels, lids, bushings, center pins, cleaning, tools, wood, just about anything you can thing of.  We've also occasionally discussed politics, off topic humor, people, places, food, holidays, computers, money, television, movies, drinking, gambling, sex, and rock and roll. Censorship has also been discussed from the beginning.  It has never happened and I think for a very good reason.  The majority of us don't want it.  What is the pianotech list?  Well... it's about a bunch of technicians who get together in cyber space and have discussions.  We talk on topic, (most of the time), and occasionally talk off topic.  Why?  Because we are a happy group and we have "conversation" just as if we were in a casual setting at a convention with other technicians.  There are no specific rules here.  The general topic is pianos.  Sometimes we just goof around a little bit and have fun doing it.  It is a "human" environment where people don't want to become tech-ish all the time.  We get that enough when we're working. So what does this all mean?  It means, (and this is my opinion but which I know it is widely shared), lighten up!  Leave the serious forms to the university chat room geeks who have no life to speak , wear pocket protectors with a hardware store stuffed in them, of and dream about wires and gears in their sleep.  We CAN relax and have fun here and we CAN talk technical about pianos at the same time.  Take a look at your keyboard for a moment.  Just to the right of the "enter" key and just below the "insert" key there is another little key that says "Delete".  If a topic arises that you don't wish to read or the author of a topic gives you the runs, just push it and the message will disappear in .00349276 nano-seconds.  Then you will be happy and bubbly again and everything will be right in your world. Enjoy life more often.  Trust me, it will be more fun that way. Rob Goodale, RPTLas Vegas, NV           </blockquote>     -- Richard Brekne RPT, N.P.T.F. UiB, Bergen, Norway <A HREF="mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no">mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no</A> <A HREF="http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html">http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html</A>   </body> </html>