Candice, you asked what the list felt.  I cannot speak
for the others, but I will tell you the thoughts your
note evinced from me.  First, I trashed it after
reading it thinking, "I'm not touching that."  But it
kept calling to me.  It compelled me to respond.

Here are the raw thoughts your note evinced:

1.  This list is a free service.  Our moderators
receive nothing for their time and effort and provide
the service purely out of the goodness of their
hearts.  They give of their personal time and effort
to provide this information forum and protect us from
the odd element that comes through trying to use the
forum for what it is not.

2.  Your message struck me as being a bit
condescending/critical of them.  I would encourage you
to rethink that given the fact this is a freebie.

3.  There may be a better way to provide the digest.
However, if that way is not an option of this server,
it's not going to happen.  The server that is used is
also free to us, as I understand it, so they may not
be able to reconstruct the way the list flows to suit
your purpose or to serve the style of some other list,
and I don't believe the list would move to accommodate
that need.  I do not know if your option is available.

4.  When you speak to the posting style of other
listers who respond to notes, I would encourage you to
consider several things:

a.  Most people here do not intend to be offensive to
their peer group.

b.  Most people are here because, like you, they have
come for the information exchange.

c.  People on this list have varying abilities and
styles.

d.  The list, because it is so large and made up of a
membership from diverse cultures and diverse
expectations, will need to accommodate differing
methods of responses in order to be inclusive.

e.  Accommodations need to be made in order to be
inclusive.  You can tell somebody cut the weeds from
your post before responding, but if they have
attention deficit or an incompatible software program
(example, Yahoo changed the way you could respond, and
it took me forever--about six weeks--to figure out how
to edit/excise my post after working with Yahoo
successfully for about five years), you may get more
info than you would hope to.

f.  Time is another factor of contention.  One might
argue they don't have enough time to read everything
that is posted, so excise the list to accommodate
them, while others may say they simply have time
enough to shoot out an answer, but not enough time to
make a neat package.  Each argument is as valid as the
other.

g.  In this community, as in any, you'll find all
manner of mental health.  I've seen some that made me
wonder on what side of that envelope they sit.  In any
event, they need to be accommodated as well within
reason, and I've seen some posting styles that do not
take into consideration that we have blind and/or
sight impaired members who use readers and shouldn't
have to hear the garbage just to participate.

5.  I am not speaking directly to your post at this
point, but rather to the human nature of the internet
world.  It never ceases to amaze me how people who get
something for nothing or land and, after a short
period of time, think something that has been ongoing
and "worked" for thousands of others through time,
should change to fit their needs.

There's an established culture here.  It works for
some part of the collective.  The web is a huge place.

There are 780 active members on MuseJobs today with
another 15-20 on bounce status.  When I first brought
up that list, it used to "hurt my feelings" if someone
left.  Now I take it in stride.  One may leave, and
three more may take their place.

By the same token, out of loyalty, I used to stay on
lists for which I no longer had significant interest
out of loyalty.  I felt I was being disloyal to the
group if I didn't stay.  It used to trouble me a lot.
Now if I find something isn't working for me, I leave
rather than to expect everyone to change to meet my
needs.

The web can be a great source of information.  Because
there are needs for different types of information and
differing styles, there may be a need for more,
smaller, lists rather than the catch-can list that is
the list of all lists but cannot, by its size, match
the exact needs of each of its posters.

If, after the rest of the group responds, and it
and/or the list masters have spoken, and you find your
needs are not being met, I would encourage you to
develop one that matches the style you require.  There
are a number of sources that can do that, but again,
you may be precluded by the free software from doing
that which you expect to be done here.

You asked for our thoughts.  These are mine.  I'm
confident others will have different ones.  Some will
agree with you wholeheartedly, I'm sure.


> There have been several queries, similar to ones I
> have, and find it most
> interesting to learn how others have solved a
> problem, particularly ones from the
> non-profit - small museum - little available money
> sector;  from where to buy
> archival products - to mounting an exhibit - to
> creative fund raising ideas.
>
> How does the rest of list feel?
>
> Candice Brashears
> Wallingford Historic Preservation Trust-CT



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