Re: Horray for Jon's psubs group sub

[Axel Iehle <ai@augusta.cma.fr>]

OK, if Al Secor wakes up, I jump in too.
Hi Al, I very much agree with what you recently wrote.

1- Many thanks to Ray and Jon for giving us the chance to discuss
about subs. I don't know for you, but if I start to speak about subs
in my direct neighborhood, people wonder if I'm crazy (apart from my
wife: she KNOWS that I'm crazy, so it doesn't hurt!).
So I really appreciate to have the chance to speak with other crazy guys
by means of this list.
Thanks Ray. Thanks Jon.

2- I read some misplaced messages trying to look down on the list.
Most of members are lurkers (like me). True
Most of members never built a sub and a lot never were into one. True.
Most of members write things that they never tested in practice,
things either coming from what they read or from their own feeling on the 
subject. True too.

And so what?
If you don't own a sub, you shouldn't be allowed to speak about subs?
Some on the list know more than others. OK, but I suspect that everyone, even 
Phil, finds an interest in participating otherwise we wouldn't be here. So 
this is a kind of mutual interest group. Some give more, some take more, but 
everyones see an interest so this is good (and enough) to my mind.
Remember nobody has to prove anything to anybody else on this list. This is 
not competition, this is sharing. Quite different. If it was for competition 
we would all shut off and listen to what 'Elvis' ;-) says. Sure it would be 
interesting but I doubt he or we would like for long this kind of unilateral 
relationship.
I read every message with the same interest. I take what I feel interesting 
and discard the rest. Simple. No place for getting aggressive or haughty.

3- I have an opinion about the content of the list:
To my mind the list is made of 3 different types of messages:
	* Silly ideas, questions or answers
	* Wise ideas, questions or answers
	* off-topic discussions
I consider all of these components as vital to our list.
Silly ideas prove that you can ask anything on this list without being flamed.
That's fairly exceptional on a specialized list like this one.
Beginners are not only admitted but encouraged.
It's for sure better to ask a silly question that to build a silly
sub and get implosion as an answer.
It also gives a general feeling of humility that we should never forget.
Wise ideas are what we are all here for: learning more.
Off-topics can be seen as useless noise, but I rather see them as a cement
between members that allows the list not to die. These messages maintain 
cohesion and life in the list as you can not expect (from yourself nor from 
the others) a clever idea/proposition at any time of the day. Would it be 
better if the list was silent when nobody has special things to say? I think 
not, even if I sometimes consider there's too many off-topic mail. I prefer 
that than a dying list.
I think off-topic messages are fairly easy to identify so if you don't like 
that, skip them, that's all. (I read all, this gives me the 'temperature' of 
the list).
(NB: thinking to those that skip off-topic mails, I think it's a good idea to 
avoid to include at the end of an off-topic reply a new serious Psub 
discussion theme/idea/question. Better to start a new message, this way 
off-topic-skippers (does that mean something for you native english?...) do 
not miss the beginning of a new thread.)

4- The Psubgate game may seem funny but I think what motivated the removal of
part of the archive is far from being funny. And it may well hurt some. So in 
my humble opinion, it would be better not to carry this on. (NB: I'm not 
telling anybody what one should do or not, I'm just saying if you don't know 
what it is all about you should consider speaking about that with some care)
Last: don't blame John Schestag.

All this is only what I think, nothing more.

Regards to All.

Axel