Re: Staying on Topic/technical

In a message dated 96-11-20 21:23:43 EST, you write:

>When we were posting about more advanced topics, like
>nomenclature and hybridizing, there were complaints that the discussion was
>getting too technical -- beyond the interests of most people -- so we took a
>lot of that off-list. 
>No loss to me.  I can get the information I need via e-mail.   But would our
>lurkers rather "hear" Larry and me banter about the relative merits of
winter
>& spring or discuss how to recognize COLOR CARNIVAL on the show table?  
>Sharon McAllister

I am really disappointed to hear that the technical discussions have gone off
list - they are the ones that I found most enjoyable last winter and the ones
I kept hoping would reappear on the list.  They are also the reason I have
stayed on the iris list, hoping they would resurface during the winter, that
they were no longer happening on the list because everyone was busy.  

The only in-depth technical discussion we have had recently was about cameras
and film.

One of the difficulties about the list subscribers determining the content is
that by definitiion, chatterers will chatter and others won't, so chatter
will be the content, no matter what the interests of the subscribers.
 Especially if the non-chatterers go off-list to talk about more technical
topics.

an anonymous person said
>I also think is important to realize that a person does not need 15 answers
>to one question, so unless we have something really different to say we
>should controll our desire to add our personal grain of salt to every
message
>(OR SEND IT OFF-LIST!).

Speaking for myself, but I think it applies to others as well - there is such
a lag in turn around on messages, that 15 of us may see a question we know
the answer to and answer as soon as we see it.  Then the responses dribble in
over the next 24 hrs or longer, depending on how fast the goats are running
the treadmill at AOL.  Plus some of us tend to be a little impulsive in
commenting.  I don't know the solution for those of us who flunked the social
IQ test for impulsiveness except to yell at us now and then.   
Waiting at least a day to post a response helps keep the volume down.

Linda Mann lmann76543@aol.com east Tennessee USA
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