Although I, like the other members of the Smithsonian community who are
 contributing to their opinions about how to censor --excuse me, MANAGE--
 the content of MUSEUM-L, am also very busy and occasionally astounded
 by the volume of messages I receive, I am against placing external controls
 on the list in any way.  I subscribe to the naive notion that this list
 documents the thoughts and dialogs of a community of practitioners, and
 any attempt at moderating or editing the transactions will change the
 character and value of this community.  True, I can get lots of the
 information on this list from other sources, but I can only get a
 sense of what museum practitioners think from sampling the range
 of topics and responses that greet me every morning.  I can always
 decide which threads are irrelevant to me, but I can only make this
 decision if I see the whole list.  Even though I sometimes have to
 work through fifty to one-hundred messages a day, I do not want anyone
 deciding which fifty messages I get to see.  I know this has been said
 before, but if you don't want to read a message you can delete it with
 one keystroke.  I hope those interested in "improving" this list will
 use this option more often and leave the rest of us to browse the
 list in the way(s) we see fit.
 
 Thanks for the soapbox  --Adam Bickford
 
Adam Bickford, Smithsonian Institution,
Institutional Studies Office:: [log in to unmask]
(202) 786-2289