Killing Threads (Was RE: Apology to Sharon)

[Tom Murrell <trmurrell -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

I have an idea I would like to share. Yes, there are threads those of us who have
been on this list for awhile (six months maybe?) would like to see never resurrected
or spoken of again. Now there are all sorts of fancy ways to have threads and topics
of no interest banished from our inboxes. Unfortunately, all of these ways involve
work.

Well, TANSTAAFL*. Each of us has to do some work to make things the way we want them
or as nearly so as we can achieve.

I do offer two suggestions to those interested in cleaning up the discourse and
limiting the life of unwanted threads. First, there is the delete key. The delete
key is our friends. I use an email provider for this list that allows me to delete
threads relatively easily.

My second suggestion might seem a bit trickier, but it involves really no effort at
all. (Well, perhaps the effort is psychic.) Don't respond to threads you don't like.
Nothing keeps a thread going longer than responses to it. And if a thread goes on
long enough, it takes on a life of its own. I recently tracked a thread based on a
comment I made to the list. It was fascinating to see all of the twists and turns it
took, how many people read so much of their own situation into my original post, and
how the thread took off on its own for parts unknown.

I realize it may be difficult at first for writers to make such a courageous
decision to NOT comment upon something they want to die anyway. However, I'm
convinced that if everyone who didn't want to see a thread continue refrained from
posted on it, the thread would die a quick death.

Just as an experiment, try it on this thread. Whether you agree or disagree with
what I've written, try NOT responding to it. It just may open up a whole new world
of discourse for you.

:-)
Tom Murrell

*TANSTAAFL - "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch." From Robert A. Heinlein's
novel "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress."

--- Greg T <ggthomp -at- attbi -dot- com> wrote:
> 
> Because it is an ongoing issue that happens all the time and shouldn't
> happen in the first place.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: bounce-techwr-l-115937 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
> [mailto:bounce-techwr-l-115937 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com] On Behalf Of John Posada
> Sent: Tuesday, December 17, 2002 10:01 AM
> To: TECHWR-L
> Cc: 'Eric Ray (E-mail)'
> Subject: RE: Apology to Sharon
> 
> 
> What is it that causes people to dredge up the closed and forgotten, less
> desirable threads, just to say how much they hate seeing those types of
> threads on the list in the first place?

=====
Tom Murrell
mailto:trmurrell -at- yahoo -dot- com
http://home.columbus.rr.com/murrell/index.html Last Updated 10/28/02
--First keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others.
Thomas a Kempis (1380 - 1471), 1420--

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