Proposed list of "the rules" (was: [rescue] OKAY. THATS IT.)

[Loomis, Rip]

Although I have found some really interesting items
in the off-topic threads lately, those are the few
grains of wheat in the chaff.  (I'm not one of the
folks who complained to Bill, but I _was_ just about
to unsubscribe due to low signal/noise ratio.  Yes,
I've posted at least a few off-topic things too,
including recent times.  Pot.  Kettle.  Black.)

I would propose the following as a rough list of
"the rules" that Bill is too nice to enforce.  Yes,
he summarized them, but I think that he was again
too nice to state them in detail (and as usual my
mouth runneth over):

1.  If your message hasn't mentioned a rescue of older
    or recent computer (typically UNIXish) hardware, then
    it probably belongs on geeks at .  Specifically,
    if you're debating the merits of different
    3D visualization programs, editors, word processors,
    or compilers, you ought to think about whether all
    of the folks on the list really want to know more
    about your opinion.  Most of us signed up because
    this list has (IMHO) the best cadre of folks who
    *know* older hardware of any available resource.

    Conspiracy theories, political/religious/philosophical
    debates, and comments/questions/speculation about
    Bill and Amy's love life probably belong on another
    server...at best, they belong on geeks at .

    If it's opinion rather than fact, or poorly researched,
    it isn't going to impress anyone.  Feel free to
    post a URL, or to provide some other concrete
    reason why your opinion is particularly valid or
    based on significant relevant experience.  Asking
    a well-phrased and specific question, OTOH, is encouraged.

    Fart conduit discussions and "is she cute" will of
    course remain--as an essential but short-lived diversion.
    If you think you're about to open a can of worms (or
    a can of whoop-ass) then why don't you just go ahead
    and start a new thread on geeks@ or take it to private
    mail.  A tangent that takes 2-3 messages is one
    thing...but 20-30 is another.

2.  If a message is crossposted from rescue to geeks,
    and you reply, *EDIT THE TO/CC LIST*.  Don't
    keep posting it back to rescue at .  If folks on
    rescue want to see it, then they can look online in
    the archives even if they're not subscribed.
    Yes, I am (and others are) currently using Microsoft
    "software" that makes proper in-line replying
    difficult...but even so, I can edit the To/CC line
    and delete non-relevant parts of the message to
    which I'm replying.

3.  More than anything else, be considerate.  We've actually
    got a heck of a better "community" here than most any
    mailing list or newsgroup I've used since all the
    "State U." undergrads got Usenet access back in about
    1988.  Let's not screw up a bad thing by causing
    folks to stop caring or getting Bill (or Amy!) pissed
    at our bad manners.

Comments (to the list) welcomed.  Please direct flames to
/dev/null unless you think I'm *really* trying to piss
*you and only you* off.  Bill is of course the arbiter of
whether this unsolicited input actually hit the mark.

  --Rip


-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Bradford

Okay.  Its time to remind everyone of the rules, and quit being
Mr. Nice Guy.