A86: [OT] proposal: ON-topic posts
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A86: [OT] proposal: ON-topic posts
disclaimer: not to be taken seriously. do not operate heavy machinery
while reading.
due to the proportion of off-topic to on-topic posts on this list, i
propose that [OT] (for on-topic) be added to the subject line of all
on-topic posts, and that it be left off of off-topic posts. this will
enable those of us interested only in on-topic posts to determine what
messages we should pay attention to, and which can be deleted without
reading them.
some of you may point out that there are methods already available to
determine this, but i would suggest that they are not sufficient.
adding [OT] (for off-topic) to off-topic subject lines has been
suggested, and in many cases actually used, but the majority of off-topic
posts do not carry this label, and those that do are often the most
entertaining to read.
another method is to always ignore & delete messages from specific
people. this can prove to be highly effective, as individuals who abuse
the list in this way do not tend to produce much helpful content, but
this method does eliminate the usefulness of the remaining 1% of their
contributions.
yet another suggestion is to merely remove the offending parties from the
list. this carries the same unfortunate side effects as ignoring them,
but has the additional problem that the list maintainer is allegedly
deceased.
it has also been suggested that the parties involved should simply grow
up. while this is a perfectly viable solution in theory, in practice
it's not unlike trying to stop smoking by shooting everyone who smokes.
it's not really worth the effort, they'll die eventually anyway, and more
will replace them.
it should be pointed out that there are flaws even with this new
suggestion of the on-topic marker. the biggest problem is that off-topic
messages may also begin to carry this marker, thereby making it
meaningless. should that happen, the most likely recourse would be to
revert to the "ignore" method and require those who post large amounts of
"substanceless" off-topic messages to agree that anything on-topic that
they post will be unread by a large percentage of their target audience.
in closing i would like to say that any replies to this message by the
humor impaired will be forwarded to ed the frog, who will also ignore
you.
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