PICLIST subect mix  <--- Adderall, or the like

> John Ferrell wrote:
> > I need to add that I personally consider the answers
> > that I get here to be more useful than anywhere else on the net,
> > regardless of the subject.

Considering
a)
> Unfortunately that comes at a price to the real purpose of this list.
and
b)
> This
> has become a high-tech Kaffeklatsch, with real PIC or EE discussions
> increasingly rare.

I agree with b) and wish it were otherwise.
But I think that (a) is plausible but by no means certain.
All things considered I think the two are not well correlated, and I
hope I'm correct, but I don't know.
If anyone can demonstrate this point either way with any degree of
plausibility it would be of interest. "Everyone" includes, of course,
Olin. We know his/your opinion from this and past discussions. You may
be right\. I hope you ae wrong. Presumably you also hope that you are
wrong :-).

> I am becoming more convinced that having good PIC and EE
> is mutually exclusive with the existance of OT.

Can you provide any supporting logic to this claim?
That's a genuine query and of genuine interest.
I am well aware that you have said it on a number of occasions and I
have never ignored it or rejected it as a possible true analysis.

> The only question in my
> mind about this is whether it is too late to reverse or not.

I'd be less confident about anyone who was that certain about a theory :-).
That degree of certainty is best to "true religion" such as eg those
at either extreme of the globa;l warming debate.

> I suspect the
> damage is irreparable and the existing trend will continue.

I suspect you may be right.
I also suspect that the trend is wholly uncorrelated with OT etc
existing or even that OT etc may have helped stem the flow. I'd find
it easier to argue the latter than the former.

For completeness, and not meaning to be any ruder than taking the true
statements at face value:

1)  I have been told by a small but significant number of people over
some years that the reason they have left / don't post / don't ask
questions or many questions and similar is because of the way that
Olin behaves or has treated them. That's an entirely honest statement.
I don't recall anyone ever saying that about any anyone else.

2) Olin himself has explicitly said on a number of occasions on list
and off list  that (non verbatim but close enough to be an honest
indication) "people who he drives away are not worth having here, that
he purposefully tries to drive 'unworthy' people away, that he baits
people in order to get them angry so that they will get abusive and
break list rules and get banned or moderated etc.

What I have seen of Olin's behaviour over time has on occasions been
well enough aligned to his stated mode of behaviour.


It seems to me (at an honest assessment) that Olin's behavior may well
has been a significanty factor in the lists's decline and that this is
liable to outweigh any other effects. .
but i MAY BE WRONG.

Russell
--=20
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