Off-topic posting: An infrequent poster's perspective

[Tim Herrlinger <tjherrlinger@ucdavis.edu>]

     I've been on this list for more than two years and post very rarely.  However, I have read EVERY fucking message that has been posted to this list during that time.  This list IS my source for Who related information.  I see its main advantage as a way to pool our common knowledge and resources to enlighten, entertain, and even "enticket" some of our members with regard to Pete, Roger, John, Keith, etc. and their products.
     Perhaps I'm in the minority, but I feel I've got to speak up.  I must agree with Lauren <NakedEye10@aol.com> (who I was pleased to meet recently at Pete's Fillmore show) that our list has too much off-topic content.  Yeah, I know I can hit the delete key and weed out what I don't want to read, but if there is a smidgen of Who content in there, I want to know about it.  Maybe there are other ways to satisfy the need for people to continue discussing off-topic items.  Let me try an analogy.  As a marine biologist, I often monitor Channel 16 on a marine radio when I'm on the water.  You can discuss important items on this channel (such as "Vessel approaching Bird Rock at Santa Catalina Island, be advised that we have divers in the water.").  But the minute you need to discuss non-essentials ("O.K.  No problem.  Hey, did you guys see any big white seabass down there while you were diving?), you should take that traffic to another channel, say Channel 68.  Maybe it's not possible to cha
   t with several interac
     I know this sounds whiny, but I liked the list better the way it was a while back.  And just because some of us don't post a lot, doesn't mean our opinions shouldn't be taken seriously.  By minimizing some of our responses, we ARE making statements.
     Finally, I don't consider discussions of the future of our list, off-topic.
     Thanks for letting me vent.

     Tim Herrlinger