stick to business, please

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

I wasn't talking about Landau, I was talking about Popik.

And I generally do delete his postings without complaint, knowing that a lot
of what he posts are highly valued by others. (It is worth pointing out,
though, that it takes time to delete items, and some people have to pay for
their computer time--I have had to work with very slow computers in
cybercafes in foreign countries where getting rid of all of the unwanted
messages was a real problem). Moreover, we are archiving all of this stuff, I
assume.

The real problem with the case at hand, though, was that on this occasion
when I opened something that DID seem interesting to me, all I got was a guy
complaining about his job. This is not a "contribution to the intellectual
life of the community." Nor is this a matter of the QUALITY of the
discussion, but rather of the NATURE of the discussion. Mr. Popik could set
up a web page and publish all his observations on his life to his heart's
content, and all the people who want to read what he writes could sign on. Or
he could start Barry's List and do his self-reporting that way.

The "D" in "ADS-L" stands for "dialect." I'm happy to cast a very wide net
here, and I have NEVER complained about any of the antedatings and the
seemingly endless harping about the origins of lexical items as WINDY CITY
and BIG APPLE, much less the incredible flow of food and drink terms. These
are things that have to do with American English, and some people obviously
like to see them. On the other hand, if we are willing to proceed "regardless
of what the subscription rules say" and not remind people that there are
rules, then why have a specialized list at all?

In a message dated 7/28/2002 3:56:44 PM, Rick at MOUSEHERDER.COM writes:

<< Oh, I dunno.  I'm inclined to overlook a good bit in this case.  After all,
looking back over my deleted files for the last couple of months I see
considerably more quality posts from Landau than from Butters.  Regardless
of what the subscription rules say, the fact is this: the  list--any
list--belongs to those who post, those who contribute to the intellectual
life of the community, those who participate.  If you'd like the raise the
quality of discussion, I'm sure we'd all be grateful.  Otherwise, may I
direct your attention to the DEL key?  I used it to good effect last week
during some interminable discussion about...well, I forget...but it went on
forever. >>