TECHWR-L, advertising, STC, & selfishness

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John M. Gear recently wrote a lament about advertising on
TECHWR-L and about the cynicism and selfishness of many
of the members of his STC chapter.

First, I would like to thank John for taking the time to
write a thoughtful reaction to the STC Region 8 videotape
advertisement.

I agree that advertising will kill the Internet as we now
know it. Imagine information overload mized with
advertising trash overload. We'll feel like we living in
a virtual landfill.

However, the STC ad falls into a grey area. Because STC is
a non profit organization and generally supports TECHWR-L
subscribers, its advertising goals to do not conflict in
the same way as, say, some lawyers from Arizona pitching
their services.

As for subscribing to TECHWR-L, I love it. I use the
delete command a lot, but I also read and respond to
postings. John's desciption of the people at the STC
meeting remind me of many of the people who job hunt
by what they think is networking.

Networking is a give-and-take process. Unfortunately--
or fortnately depending on how you look at it--many people
only show up at meetings or want to talk to me when *they*
are looking for a job. They never offer anything of value
to the group or to others. Then they wonder why networking
doesn't seem to work for them!

Being a responsible subscriber to TECHWR-L is a give-and-
take process. I don't want to see someone post a question
but never constructively respond to others. I have noticed
that occasionally, someone will make some outrageous request
for help or information (a request that sounds much too much
like a demand) on TECHWR-L. I just laugh and delete.

And that's my $0.02 for what it's worth.

BTW, I am active TECHWR-L subscriber and an active STC
chapter leader. The two are not mutually exclusive. ;-)

-Mike Uhl (uhl~m -at- glaxo -dot- com)
 Glaxo Inc. Research Institute
 Research Triangle Park, NC