Email list wisdom (fwd)

[Peter A. McGraw]

This may strike some as off-topic, but I'm offering it for anyone who
thinks we need to lighten up.

Peter Mc.

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Please forgive the satire.  It is not mine, but I thought I'd share it.

How many list members does it takes to change a light bulb?

1 to change the light bulb and to post that the light bulb has been changed

14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light
bulb could have been changed differently

7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs

3 to point out spelling/grammar errors in posts about changing light bulbs

1 to flame the spell checkers

3 to correct spelling/grammar flames

6 to argue over whether it's "lightbulb" or "light bulb" ... another 6 to
condemn those 6 as stupid

1 industry professional to inform the group that the proper term is "lamp"

3 know-it-alls who claim they were in the industry, and that "light bulb"
is perfectly correct

7 to post that this group is not about light bulbs and to please take this
discussion to a lightbulb forum

11 to defend the posting to the group saying that we all use light bulbs
and therefore the posts are relevant to this group

36 to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where to buy
the best light bulbs, what brand of light bulbs work best for this
technique and what brands are faulty

5 to post URLs where one can see examples of different light bulbs

4 to post that the URLs were posted incorrectly and then post the corrected
URL.

3 to post about links they found from the URLs that are relevant to this
group which makes light bulbs relevant to this group

13 to link all posts to date, quote them in their entirety including all
headers and signatures, and add "Me too"

5 to post to the group that they will no longer post because they cannot
handle the light bulb controversy

4 to say "didn't we go through this already a short time ago?"

3 to say "do a Google search on light bulbs before posting questions about
light bulbs"

1 to tell a funny story about their beagle and a light bulb

1 group lurker to respond to the original post 6 months from now and start
it all over again


Marianne Salcedo
Senior Consultant
Compendia Consulting, Inc.
1547 West Turner Street
Allentown, PA 18102 USA
Tel & Fax 610-439-3718
Email m.salcedo at rcn.com


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Peter A. McGraw       Linfield College        McMinnville, Oregon
******************* pmcgraw at linfield.edu ************************