Joe declared on Monday 27 October 2003 08:25 pm: GAH! Do you not realize that Jay is probably moderating these onto the list, so that someone might see them and help the person out? I doubt these people are so clueless that they're going through the trouble to sign up to the list, and post a message that sounds like they think they're talking to just one person.' Remember, the list is here to try to HELP people with classic computer stuff, which includes giving/selling stuff to people that need/want it. It annoys the hell out of me everytime I see this topic pop up, after Jay has already explained what's going on. I'm sorry for the rant, but seeing this topic come up week after week really gets old. That being said, Jay: It'd probably be nice if the people realized they were posting to a list when they tried to 'reply' to a message in the archives. Would it be possible to make the mailto: link read "mailing list" or something, instead of being the poster's name with the email going to the list? ATM, how it's set up, it's easy to think you're sending a message to a person, not a list of people. That's just my suggestion (and perhaps it'll help out with these weekly threads). -- Pat PLUG Vice President -- http://plug.purdue.org Slackware Linux -- http://slackware.com Purdue University Research Computing -- http://www.itap.purdue.edu/rcs

Patrick wrote... so Joe replied... His point is mine. Sometimes, not rarely, but not often, I space out and just don't realize it's a nefarious poster. Many times I conciously approve the post. Joe, if you had 50 vintage computer widgets that you didn't care about, wouldn't you like to see some big corporation post and say "I need 50 widgets desperately, I'll pay $200 each". Not to mention, as we all know... new acquisitions come from the strangest places. Maybe the person looking for the fluke pods (or something like that) might say in passing after the off-list contact "hey, I know where there is a computer you might want, I think it's called a Decsystem 2020". Yeah, I know that's not common. But do we not have a duty as collectors to educate and represent the hobby in the best light? Patrick wrote... Joe replied... have SO WHAT if they think they are talking to one person and they are really talking to a list? Maybe I'm dense, but I don't see why we should pounce on someones lack of knowledge. Well, at least make an argument for the case I can get my head around. In the absence of some cogent reasoning, your statement sounds.. well... elitist. Patrick wrote.... Joe replied... I prefer to look at it this way Joe... Someone asks for help with an old system they happen to still have or use. We help them out. They may BECOME collectors and get interested and join the list. If someone has to be seriously interested in classic computers before they join the list, we would have a small and shrinking member base. And on this list, since when is "out of date" a bad thing? *GRIN* And Joe, just for the record - I do agree with you up to a point. Ok, I'm back to list maintenance :)