Noise levels increasing and have become deafening

On Tue, 27 Oct 1998, Ward Donald Griffiths III wrote: I actually had a similar thought and it could work. Is it possible to create an off-topic mailing list that is not publicly advertised and cannot be subscribed to unless one were already a subscriber to the on-topic one? Those that want the on-topic list could get that, those who want both would get both and no one could subscribe to only the off-topic one. The unwritten rule is that no new topic could be spontaneously generated on the off-topic one and the only new threads allowable would be those banished from the on-topic list. Of course threads would be allowed to meander and mutate once they were released to the off-topic list. This is just a thought. It certainly would allow for these brief hot torrents of opinion on semi off-topic material to run their course without inconveniencing those who wish to only see hardcore tech info. The off-topic list would be like a sidebar only accessible to those who read the on-topic one. I too prefer to see some adherence to convention, instead of the "barefoot in the head"-type prose in the first quote. However, I note Ward uses a double space between the end of one sentence and the beginning of another and I believe this is considered to be an archaic convention in the word processing age. So we all have our own peculiarities and I am not sure I want to hop on anyone for grammar or punctuation. Hey---just kidding around!! There are times this list seriously lacks any sense of humor. -- Stephen Dauphin