Hello wee Sinisterons, I'm getting a little worried about the list, and I wonder if some of you could pat my head and tell me not to? Looking to the future, a few people have commented that with the upcoming LP and tours, we may get a very large influx of red-faced weeping excited new fans (unless of course the gigs are crap and the new LP stinks). I'm quaking a little in my booties because, as you know, the list is run on "borrowed" resources, both my time and more importantly my employer's hardware. I want to be able to keep running this list, but I need help from you lot. This month we've had 750 postings to the list - with 500 members on average that's over a third of a million mail messages my machine has sent out this month. It blew my socks off too. And it's summer. Now I've had a number of people recently mailing me, telling me the same and asking me to do something, that some of this email is unnecessary and of minority interest, i.e. 1 or 2 other people. I keep refraining from saying anything publically as it'll put off all you shy things who haven't said much, but there are a few who are posting little messages to each other like ping-pong. I've recently mailed a few people asking them to hold back a little and give others breathing space, and I hope they will, for the good of all, pay attention. I'm going to keep doing this for a while and see if it gets anywhere, and will take action if necessary if people don't respond. This will undoubtedly make me Pig Of The List, and all I can say is please don't take it personally, I'm doing it to make this thing survive. It's a very hard balance to strike, this. We mustn't all feel we need to post solely about the band but this is NOT a general music list, there are plenty of other lists with much better resources to do this, and you can join them, or indeed are welcome to make your own list. It's a community, and anything *thought out* and that you know will be of interest to others is welcome. HOWEVER, long-running debates about the Smiths, or indeed which bands you think are crap are out of place here if they encourage sourness (as someone said) and little scrappy fights that go on and on. Note the "long-running" - it's up to you to cut these short or take them offline and talk amongst yourselves; and of course it's fine to talk about other bands you think might be of interest to others. But messages that you could send to a friend or two privately, or indeed messages which you think make you look smart, are out of place here. I've said it a lot of times and I'll keep saying it, it's up to you to THINK before you post and not send out smart two line quips. Go look at the archives of the early days of this list, and please read the FAQ on the WWW site for rules of how to use this list. If you're posting more than 1 or just *maybe* 2 mails a day, or two-line replies, I'd hazard a guess you aren't thinking before hitting send, and aren't helping the list's chances of survival. Go away and have a think and package all your thoughts up into one mail please. It's a lot more efficient and makes it easier for the rest of us to read or skip. There's a few things I can do if this doesn't work, to protect my job and the quality of the list: 1. kill/suspend the list 2. restrict membership to a certain number which will have the effect of not letting you back on if you unsubscribe (unfortunately) 3. suspend people's ability to post who go "over quota" in a week. Frankly I think these range from sad to stupid, and require more effort for me, but I will do them if nothing else works. It's up to the few to respond and the rest of you (who I *know* like foxes and furry things with floppy ears and don't like fights) to politely make your feelings felt, NOT to the list, but to individuals you feel aren't making it easy on the list - copy your mails to me personally if you want. Otherwise I feel I'm fighting in isolation here, feel like I'm a miserable moan, and the list just won't be able to keep going that much longer. The other danger is of course that I'll keep having to post these messages and just get fed up doing it - I'm supposed to be having fun here too! Thank you for erm, listening, Honey xxx P.S. Some people are still hitting "reply" to messages to the list so I'm having to forward them. I'm going to stop now so your messages will be lost. Please read the FAQ. P.P.S. Debbie (Prior) - please mail me and check your incoming mail. Ta. Peee S. I had no volunteers to coordinate tapes and just three to do recordings, all UK, and I don't think it's fair or sustainable for them to get loaded with doing the world's tapes, so I'm afraid I'm going to just remove references to taping from my WWW site and requests will just hit the list. Strikes against the spirit of this message a bit but it's all I can do - let's hope we don't get a massive swell in September. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- . This message was brought to you by the Sinister mailing list. . To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". . For unsubscribing, list rules, Tigermilk and sessions tapes, . please see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister . For questions about how the list works mail owner-sinister@majordomo.net . *** B&S new LP worldwide release 7th September, tour news etc. at *** . *** http://www.majordomo.net/sinister/news.html *** . Coinini athasach ata muid - ag canuint amhrain na . coinini - nach bhfuilimid? -----------------------------------------------------------------------