[tcb] On topic/ Off topic
- From: "Gerald V. Livingston II" <gerald.tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2007 21:11:39 -0500 (Central Standard Time)
I'm hoping Dan M. is laughing his a$$ off waiting for me to step in since I
started some of this. If not, he can yell at me off list.
Now, I (very) loosely equated my property purchase as VW related because
everyone knows that for as long as I've had my VW's I've NOT had a place I
could always work on them. The first building I had planned was a shop, not
a house. ("Planned" and "was" explanations next week on the other list if I
can get it done.)
Oh, expect my normal rambling, subject changing every paragraph, style in
this message, I have other things going on and I keep leaving it and coming
back to type more.
OK, we really need to stay on bus topic except for Fridays, for more than
one reason.
The REAL reason. Go to www.freelists.org and read their rules for allowing
creation of lists. The only way Dan squeaked us in is because we should,
technically, be a group of people discussing the maintenance and
restoration of old "technology" and the integration of new technology into
our old vehicles.
I don't think they'll get picky and whack a list that's already been active
a few years, but they could.
Another reason. Have any of you joined the type2 list or the vintagebus
list? Get off topic in vintagebus and you're gone. On type2 it's a LITTLE
more lax, but not much. The reason is that they ended up with mail volume
exceeding 1000 messages per day. Freelists might actually take notice if we
start hitting their servers that hard.
I started the tractor conversation on the Buskatiers list as well (which is
a reason Dan K. is probably a little miffed, he's reading it twice). It
died after about 10 messages. That's average for off topic stuff there. If
it goes much longer then Terry (the "official" moderator) will pmail people
and tell them to stop. The BSKA list started to get a little out of hand a
few years ago and at least one person was unsubscribed and asked to stay
gone because she couldn't get a handle on the difference between list mail
and "pmail". 4 or 5 messages a day that had nothing to do with VWs or
anyone other than whichever list member she was trying to pmail got
annoying quickly.
The problem with off topic threads is that after 5 or 6 people get involved
it's really almost impossible to move to pmail if ANY of them are not VERY
fluent in the use of email. The only way to take it off list is for each of
those involved to create a "group" in their email client to make sure they
send any replies to all of the others rather than to just one person.
When the froo-fraw (yes, I made it up) happened on the BSKA list I
suggested we set up a second list that was strictly a place to move WAY off
topic stuff. People who never want to see off topic messages could just not
join that list. Well, someone created a "Yahoo group" list and that floated
like a lead brick. Yahoo groups sucks.
We didn't have the resources to set up a second "real" list. There's no way
to float a true off-topic list on freelists.org without blatantly lying on
the setup application and risking having it deleted when they figure out
what's going on. So, the idea kind of died.
Now, however, I have the machine that I've been talking about for a
searchable list archive running. I'll be working on getting the mail server
set up this weekend. When that's done I'll set up the same list software
that freelists is using and create an "off topic TCB/BSKA" list. Hopefully
I'll have that running by Monday then I'll work on the archives (the mail
server has to be working before I can create auto-updating archives).
If anyone has any spare 18G or larger 80-pin SCSI drives they can donate
for storage the server can hold up to 12 <grin>. I know it will handle up
to 36G drives, I don't know about the 73G or 147G drives yet. It'll also
hold up to 4 SATA drives but I'm looking for deals on 500G drives for those
slots.
As for the "planned" and "was", well, I think I need to change my last name
to Dodson. You see, there's this property that used to be a gas station
about 1/4 mile from the land I'm buying. And the guy I'm buying the land
through is also handling that property. And is offering to me at a
significant discount from the advertised price. No shop, it was a
convenience store type place. But that means there's a REALLY BIG metal
building with concrete/tile floors plus a concrete slab with a canopy
(where the pumps used to be) outside. To bad there's not 3 houses on any of
this land.
So, in summary,
1. Please stop the non-bus chats except on Fridays. Asking where to get a
good longboard to decorate a bus with is OK, letting it wander to asking
who's going surfing when and where probably isn't. Asking how big a shop to
build for xx VWs is OK, talking about the tractors and dirt needed to
construct said shop ... no.
2. Next week look for a seprate list announcement for those who don't mind
off the beaten path chatter.
G2
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