Sinister: PLEASE READ: help Sinister

[Honey]

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.

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