Date:         Sat, 3 Jan 2009 21:22:52 +0000
Reply-To:     "John C..." <trvlr2001@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "John C..." <trvlr2001@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      Re: List filtering thoughts

It's OK Bob, We Know You're Not Vanagon Minded !!!  ;o)
JC....

-------------- Original message --------------
From: Robert Keezer <warmerwagen@YAHOO.COM>

>
> I think this list functions well because of the rules and not in spite of them.
> A person subscribes to read and comment on what is relevant to him.
> If you start a group, and call it the anything goes list, then you can discuss
> anything there.
> But when members subscribe to this list, it's because of that one unique title:
> Vanagon.
>
> What is assumed by some is that we are all like-minded because we own one.
> Really? Likeminded like the Libyans in the bus chase scene in BTTF?
>
> It's a vehicle , it carries me, it carries terrorists,and it carries a lot of
> stuff.
> A forum about it is a great idea.
> We all can come here to get technical info.
> Or, find out things I don't care to know, like where the Grateful Dead are
> playing.
>
> And i suppose a heads up where a vendor has gone astray I can tolerate too, and
> hopefully i am not that vendor.
>
> But then there are those who come because they see it as a community. And it is
> , but it's not like a real community.
> This is the phenomena of the internet.
>
> I don't really care about the fluff- just the vanagon stuff.
> When my mail box becomes too filled with titles that i find annoying, it's
> usually because those titles have less to do with the focus of the forum and
> more with the focus of the indvidual.
> it is advertised by the very name , after all, the Vanagon list.
>
> When the titles become too irrelevant to me, I become annoyed.
> I don't need to subscribe to something that disturbs me when I have neighbors
> next door who do this.
>
>
> Some sites have multiple forums where you can discuss other topics.
> This is one of the more regulated forums, which is why I am still here after 10
> years. Who wants to see flame wars and arguments ?
> We used to have some big ones in the old days.
>
> The internet has connected people.
> I just contacted my guitar player i haven't seen or talked to over 30 years. You
> can find people .
> And you can find people who are like-minded in as much as they too bought the
> silly-looking box on wheels.
>
> Some say we are Vanagon -minded, well, if you mean I think about that starter
> which needs to be replaced but I don't want to do it in the weather, yes.
>
> I've never considered myself to be Vanagon-minded, as if after you buy a car it
> somehow takes over your life , and in the end, your mind.
>
> No, it's just a box on wheels and I'm the only one in the neigborhood, like most
> of you, that own one-or 15.
>
> What I am saying, is that I'm not Vanagon -minded!
> I own four of them.
> They may not have taken over my mind yet, but they have taken over my yard!
> Happy New Year!
>
> Robert
>
>
>
>
>
>
> At 12:19 PM 1/3/2009, Allan Streib wrote:
> >I think lists like this are more than just knowledge resources, they are
> >a community of sorts and as such we need to allow (within reason) some
> >amount of more "social discussion".
>
> 'Zackly. This list has shown great discretion and wisdom in avoiding
> and quickly squashing political topics; in instantly ejecting the
> heater expert and unregenerate Nazi when he showed his colors; and in
> maintaining a civil tone. But in my experience over ten years or so
> it has always been a social list, not strictly a technical one, and I
> don't think the relative amount of "off-topic" posting has
> changed
> all that much over that time.
>
> There has always been a certain tension between the folks who want a
> strictly focused and/or all-technical list, and those who like myself
> consider the list an avenue of friendship and contact among a
> like-minded community scattered across the country and to some extent
> around the world. I believe this tension has served the list well,
> keeping it to a middle path. I think that (judging by behavior) Ron
> Lussier and Tom Carrington were of similar mind, and that Jim Arnott,
> though restrained in his actions, was/is very much of the
> highly-focused philosophy, and trying to keep a middle road has taxed
> him severely.
>
> I personally was dismayed by both the tone and content of the
> "charter" recently imposed, though I understand the frustration that
> led to it.
>
> The subaruvanagon list is a good example of a highly focused list,
> and it works well. It is a technical list concerned with suby engine
> conversions into vanagons, and anything else is decidedly off-topic;
> and the line is sharply and consistently drawn by the moderator.
>
> With this list it has been more the case that certain subjects are
> absolutely off-topic and forbidden, and then there is a sort of
> sliding scale that centers on Vanagons and slopes gradually off in
> all directions from there -- I think this is appropriate. Vanagons
> are largely a state of mind of Vanagon-minded people, and they tend
> to have other interests and values in common, so it's natural for
> them to befriend each other.
>
> My two cents...
> David
>
>
> --
> David Beierl - Providence RI USA -- http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/
> '84 Westy "Dutiful Passage," '85 GL "Poor Relation"
>
>
>
>