No mater how hard people may complain, I do not thing off topic threads
will ever stop. Some topics here I will admit should be stopped, but
convincing others to do this is sometimes impossible. Humans tend to
like to argue about things for which they feel strongly about. Many
topics disused here have been of no interest to me, and others I have
followed with upmost anticipation. Now I am going to assume that
threads will never stop, if one specific thread stops, it will only be
replaced by another. I think this is a realistic assumption. Given
this assumption to our universe, I can not argue that threads should
stop, because they can't I can however propose methods for managing
them. I propose that all off topic threads have something like
"[offtopic]" in the subject to help others filter them out. This
requirement should be made mandatory on these topics. Now, this dose
not solve the problem of those who use there newton for e-mail, but, it
is the best I can think of, short of writing an IMAP client (I don't
have time for that). I will concede that something needs to be done
about threads, but I don't thing anyone can stop them by simply asking.
Another method which works quite well in many groups is to ignore the
offending topics. Some people (including me) have been known to fight
harder when they see opposition. The best way to stop some of these
threads may be to simply ignore the letters. I know the these topics
make many people made because of the waist of space and bandwidth, but
if you replay, you are becoming a part of the problem, not the solution.
Well, I hope these two suggestions help, I employ this group to do
something about off topic threads if it really wants them to stop, or
this group will be doomed to suffer from them.
Thomas Cherry.
PS, who manages this list?
-- The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force. -Darth Vader, Sith Lord.-- This is the Newtontalk mailinglist - http://www.newtontalk.net To unsubscribe or manage: visit the above link or mailto:newtontalk-request_at_newtontalk.net?Subject=unsubscribe
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