Re: interest areas

[John Posada <jposada -at- NOTES -dot- CC -dot- BELLCORE -dot- COM>]

How about those that don't have the time or patience to deal with information
just sign off.

Granted...there is a substantial amout of information posted to this list that
doesn't fit into "someone's" opinion of what they want to read.  However, whay
you may not want to read about may be of interest to someone else.

I go through several hundred emails per day between this list, copyediting,
word play, and Word lists, and I have no problem with hitiing the delete key
within a half-second of the message appearing on my screen.  You can usualy
tell within the first line of the body of the message if it is about a subject
that appeals to you.  Maybe it takes me a half-hour in the morning to go
through my list of emails.

What will happen with having 10 or so lists is that instead of cutting down on
the traffic, you will increase it because if, for example, someone wanted to
discuss the advantages of using Frame for an SGML project as part of their tech
writing job and they needed to know if they should use it on a windows or unix
platform, they will post it to the Windows and Unix lists, as well as to All,
to HTML, and probably to Document Design.  Now, instead of reading one email,
I'm reading 5 or more copies of the same email.

I'm continually amazed at the people that say they are signing off the list
because of too much information.  Well, I'm sorry, why not just stick your head
in the sand and avoid growth.

My opinion is that people that are having trouble dealing with the amount of
information are not suffering from information overload, but time management
problems.  I consider going through my email as part of my job
responsibilities, and set aside time to read email just like I set aside time
for reading industry news, etc.  And before anyone getts the idea that I must
have alot of time on my hands, understand that I also work an average of 60
hours per week, and I have a life.

Come-on, people, stop complaining about how tough it is to keep up with
something that IMHO, is your responsibility.

John Posada
- Central New Jersey Employment Manager
Society for Technical Communication
http://stc.org/region2/njc/

- Technical Proposal Writer
Bell Communications Research
(908) 699-5839 (W)
jposada -at- notes -dot- cc -dot- bellcore -dot- com

"Its wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago"
        - Vice President Dan Quayle, 4/30/91
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I don't speak for my employer and they return the favor
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Shirley Moore - x3247 wrote:

> > From daemon Tue Dec 10 21:34:25 1996
> > Date:         Tue, 10 Dec 1996 12:18:28 -0800
> > From: Julie Beynon <beynon -at- MPR -dot- CA>
> > Subject:      Re: A little moderation, please
> > To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> >
> > Diane Cohn wrote:
> >
> > >What about splitting the list into interest areas? Here are some
> > >suggestions:
> > >
> > >     TECHWR-career
> > >     TECHWR-editing
> > >     TECHWR-doc design
> > >     TECHWR-windows
> > >     TECHWR-unix
> > >     TECHWR-html
> > >     TECHWR-contracting
> > >     TECHWR-corporate politics
> > >     TECHWR-all
> > >
> >
> >
> How about one for managers. TECHWR-mgrs

I'd also suggest
        TECHWR-online
        TECHWR-multimedia
        TECHWR-usability
--
Mitch Berg
mberg -at- is -dot- com

"Word is a minivan, Frame is a bus. Your job is to move 80 people across
town by noon. Choose."
   -- John Bell