The Direction of the Digest
By Larry Smith
Folks, let me remind everyone that we are a considerable number of people - now well over two hundred - and that represents a _staggeringly_ wide range of interests. The digest can only talk about so many things at a time, and once a conversation starts about a typical topic, it tends to follow that topic for a while. If it so happens that it is not a topic that certain people don't care about, the old-timers know that it will eventually peter out and, like any good conversation, other topics will take center stage. This list is for _all_ kinds of automatic music. Of late there has been some discussion of MIDI and tips on how to get a player piano "just working" - that in no way indicates that there are not people here who have an _absorbing_ interest in careful, delicate, historically-accurate restorations of classical automatic instruments. And it is a damn shame to leave the list before that particular topic pops up again. The digest format means you only have to deal with just one sniveling little message a day - all you need to is scan the contents that Jody thoughtfully adds to the top and use it to decide if there is anything of immediate interest. If there isn't, delete it. You can get a new copy from the archives that Jody maintains for us. What could be simpler? What could be less of an imposition? Jody is the only one doing any real work. God knows I wouldn't mind seeing a lot of newsgroups that work as well as this list does.
The list never "diverges" from anything because it is the sum total of _all_ our interests. It does move from one conflux of interests to another as time goes by. It certainly doesn't talk enough about music boxes to suit me - but that's partially my fault, and eventually I'll get around to posting some music box stuff and perhaps we'll get some good conversation going on that. And that's my advice to Robin: don't just wait around for someone _else_ to bring up a topic you want to talk about. If you want to talk about something, TALK about it. Chances are a lot of us will join in. Just start a new thread. You don't need to argue or be confrontational, all you need to do is to crystalize a new topic and let the rest of us go with it.
Too many people unfamiliar with the net leave lists and newsgroups in disgust because they don't talk about what _they_ are interested in without ever understanding that you need to _contribute_ to and _maintain_ a discussion like you do any conversation. What would the family dinner table be like if everyone waited silently for someone else to discuss something _they_ were interested in, and then leaving when someone else starts talking about something they don't care about? So it on the net. This forum is what _WE_ - each of us individually - make of it. No more - and certainly no less.
regards,
Larry Smith |
(Message sent Fri 24 May 1996, 15:54:10 GMT, from time zone GMT-0400.) |
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