Posting options --a story of hope

[Tim Lohrmann <timlohr@yahoo.com>]

Visionaries, 
     A story to share.
     
     Once upon a time on another list-serve long ago,
a person much like myself became embroiled  in
listserve debate.  
     The postings flew. Some with only a line or
two--a sarcastic comment on someone's response to my
response to their response to someone else's response.
You know the kind. 
     Anyway, this list served many, many others. Some
read the  debate postings from time to time. Many
others deleted most all of them. Father Time demanded
it. 
     Still the debate raged on and on and on--the
postings continued to mount. Some subscribers dropped
off the list altogether. Some complained of list
abuse. 
    "Oh, the sheer volume," they moaned inexplicably. 
     We posted on--madly. 
     Then an interesting event--a well meaning woman
took me aside. What she had to say was a revelation. A
revelation to all of us debate posters, we of the
witty one-line piled up posts.
     "Many of your posts are fascinating," said she.
"And so are many of the ones of your debating
buddies." 
     I swelled with pride. My efforts were getting the
appreciation they deserved.
     "But here's an idea," she continued. 
     My ears pricked--I liked ideas. 
     "It might be even more fascinating if you
occasionally noticed that right there on your debate
buddy's post is his or her OWN PRIVATE E-MAIL ADDY,"
she said.(The term "addy" disturbed my
cyber-sensitivity. But my ears remained open.)   
    "That way if your post is not of earth-shaking
significance or if it doesn't billow brilliance--like
that one liner you sent this morning--you can write it
directly back to them." 
      She watched the puzzlement on my face as I
sensed the descent of the other shoe. It had never
occured to me that all the other list-servers were not
happy consumers--cyber-voyeurs opening their mail for
delightful dip in our streaming consciousness.
      "This way you can still share your ideas and
with the private correspondence you might even become
better friends with others on the list," she
enlightened. "Private correspondence is more personal
and it would end some grumbling."
       Grumbling? 
       "Yep, come here and see," she invited.
       "It's only been a day since I checked my mail."
        I looked over her shoulder at her open mail
account. 
        113 NEW MESSAGES 
        The impassioned handiwork of my friends and I
was staring back at me in a new light. 
        "I've only got a few minutes to check mail,"
she whispered. "I'll never find the time to read all
this stuff. If something doesn't change I may have to
ummmm......unsubscribe from the list."
       The horror of it. She would no longer share our
thoughts. Of course since she was deleting our posts
anyway...
       This woman and I talked to my friends.  Some
rebelled instinctively at our idea. 
      "That's what DELETE buttons are made for!" they
cried.
       "If they don't want our mail let-em delete it."
       "But deleting that volume of mail mixed with a
few messages of importance takes time," she responded.
"Would it be too much to ask of you to just get a chat
room? It might save the list!"
        They nodded at the considerate novelty of her
plan. 
      We continued to post. Just not as often. We
still expressed our opinions--just not 12 times a day.
Or if we did it 12 times a day then it was back and
forth privately. Not on the public list. We even did
"get a chat room" a few times. 
      The list was still fun. Some who unsubscribed
came back. Important issues were discussed---just not
dissected in microscopic detail. Some of our wise
cracks were made in private...some even face to face.
A shared cup of coffee as we talked in person.  
      What had once descended into a fit of burdensome
cyber-sniping rebounded into an informative list of
manageable volume.
      The list started to bring a community together
was doing just that.
                 TL  

     (This story is for the private entertainment of
Vision 2020 subscribers. Any resemblance of this
list-serve story scenario to other list-serve
situations is purely coincidental.) 
                            
         

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