M wrote regarding 'Re: [ot] complaining without offering to help' on Tue, Nov 29 at 13:36:
> Danny Sauer wrote:
[...]
> >First time on a low- to medium-volume mailing list?
> 
> Not at all.  BTW, I _did_ make a suggestion, so your change of topic is 
> probably incorrect.

Sorry - I was in a hurry and had to throw *something* in there before
I headed out to lunch.  My mental thesaurus was running thin at the
time.  Creating another "topic: anything but PICs" list did sound very
much like the other suggestions of "Tedium"  and "skip" tags which
surely weren't serious, though. :)

> >I'm left to wonder, do the people griping so loudly about off-topic
> >sometimes drifting way off-topic also gripe when people at work become
> >friends?
> 
> In no way was my post a gripe (until now...) nor was it loud.

That wasn't personal (nor was any of it, for that matter, except for
the genuine question about other list membership)  - it was just
related to the topic at hand.  My apologies if the message came across
as directed specifically at you.  That's why I said "people" and
changed the subject, since the subject described what I was talking
about.

> They already do enforce [category] postings.  I've gotten a mail from 
> them reminding me of the tags, as have others I'm certain.  But that 
> said, lists tend to maintain themselves when the topics are focused 
> enough -- people tend to do the right thing.

That's what I was getting at. Creating an even more focused "way OT"
category - which could be implemented with the current category system
(where subscribers have the option to filter the posts in that section
out) or as a separate list - would require another layer of more
strict filtering.  This sure as heck isn't ee, for example, but that's
where it started.  For a while though, at least, there's have to be
strict policing - warning people that their OT post was "too OT" or
similar.  My point is that it'd be a major headache to do that, and it
wouldn't gain much, since friendly lists almost universally have some
off-topic banter periodically.  It'd either have to be smacked down
every time, irritating many and reducing what appears to be some of
the list's appeal (a semi-loose focus), or the list would degenerate
back to where we're at now - the apparent state of least energy. :)

--Danny, who appreciates the change :)
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