OK, I'll don my list admin hat for a few minutes this morning.

If you really don't want to see OT posts, shut off OT and you'll never see
them.  That's been the list policy for quite a while now.  Very simple and
very effective.  The flip side is, if you're posting OT, then you should
tag it accordingly,or expect to be swatted by admins and non-admins alike.

I, on the other hand, do not have the luxury of shutting off OT posts,
since it's kind of my job to watch all the threads.  And I've noticed that
the S/N ratio has definitely gone downhill over the past few weeks.  I
attribute it to late summer doldrums -- well, in the northern hemisphere
anyway.  I seem to recall the same complaint around the same time for the
past couple of years.

But please do think before making that OT post.  OT posts are allowed for
non-PIC related topics *that may be of interest to a majority of list
members*.  There are also a few subjects that should be studiously avoided
for obvious reasons, such as religious and political debates.  There are
countless thousands of forums for discussing these topics, and we really
don't need the animosity that usually results from these.  We're an
extremely diverse group here, scattered all over the world, and there
really are few if any topics on which we're all in agreement (or even
close to it).

So while I'm not saying, "Stop making OT posts", I am asking that we try
to return the focus back in the direction it needs to be.  And for those
who like some OT posts but not all, it's an unfortunate fact but you can't
decide which OT posts you see and which you don't, so you either take the
lot or ignore them all.  I don't think there would be many volunteers to
moderate the list, even if that were an option (and it's not).

Dale

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