Re: Off-topic posting: An infrequent poster's perspective

[WFang01@aol.com]

Tim, re:

>  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.

I read your post and understand your point of view. What YOU want is for
people to supply you with information that you can use. That's great.
However, what are YOU giving???

I post a lot (an understatement). I'm capable of answering a large percentage
of the questions, many that nobody else has the answers for. While I enjoy
doing so most of the time, other times I'm burned out by people like you. As
a result, I get tired and don't answer people's questions that I *do* have
answers for and even worse, I get a wee bit "sarcastic" and sometimes hurt
people's feelings.  While I'm sure your intentions are good, what YOU want to
do is "take". Quite frankly, if all this list only was a source of "Who
information", I would cease participating. Just like Pete Townshend gets sick
of answering "Gee, Pete... aren't you sorry you said 'I hope I die...' " How
many questions of the same type and nature can you answer over and over and
over again without OTHER conversations to keep your interest???  

Unless YOU are willing to spend the time to make this list more interesting,
than your opinion, while noted, doesn't mean anything. You haven't influenced
my life. You haven't said anything that's caught my attention. While I'm not
speaking for others (although I know many share my opinion on the subject),
why should I change because of you? What you don't seem to understand is...
if you don't post, you're invisible as if you're not even on the list. I
can't respond to ghosts. If you told me, "Hey WF, what you said to Chris H.
way back when wasn't right." I can respect that, but I can't respect you
saying how the people who spend THEIR time and effort posting, or simply what
or what not to post. It's very self-centered and selfish...

The choices are simple:

1) Ignore what you don't like
2) Spend quality time and effort posting useful info to make the list
"better"
3) Be unhappy for not making the list what YOU thought it should be and
leave...

This list is a lot like life. Make it what YOU want it to be, Do nothing, or
do something else...

-wf