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Direction of the List I have felt for some time that the list was moving away from high profile PD issues and more towards social chit chat or what ever seemed to be the topic de jeur. Since this seemed to satisfy some of the list subscribers I quietly, but not silently, observed the transition. As a caregiver my interest in the list is to get as much insight as I can into the day to day fight of each PWP and caregiver as it relates to PD. This I believe will give my wife and I as many tools as possible to deal with the day to day fight. Equally important is the long term fight for a cure. In this regard I am always looking for the latest basic and clinical research efforts and the progress that is being made. Finally, PD advocacy is high on my radar screen because the day to day fight and our long term PD fight did not have a profile commensurate with the scope of the problem. Hence political advocacy reached the playing field. The kinds of things that I would keep to a minimum on the list include most of lifes joys and sadnesses. We all have life experiences of birth, death and illness. This is the common bond that all people share. Any forum public or private could be used as a vehicle to express those life experiences. This may not be the best place to do that. This list , I had hoped, would focus on the PD experience of the participants and the efforts of others to improve the quality of life for those of us that are caught up in this lousy disease. Managing the technical (hard) information about the disease may actually be easier that managing the non-technical (softer) side of the disease. The hard side deals with drugs, surgery, therapy, injections, walkers, wheel chairs tremors, rigidity etc. We seem to do a good job of policing mis-information in this area. That is an important component. I have found this aspect of the list to be invaluable. The soft side deals with the emotional trials, the loneliness, lost memories, and many of our life experiences that may be related to PD, often are unrelated to PD yet may impact PD because it is a neurological disorder. We do not like this area to be policed. Poetry, praises, sympathies, day to day courtisies and rudeness are all part of the soft side of life. They are common to all of us and because of this commonness they are thought to be "in our province" or within our right of free expression. This makes them very difficult to reign in. Unfortunately this may be exactly what the list needs to do if it is to serve our PD needs first and foremost. While we can not deny ourselves of these feelings, perhaps this list should not be used for that pupose. I think it may be time to reign in the softer more general part of the list and expand the more focused commentary about PD. There is a time and a place for everything. This place (The List) is for PD sharing. The time for a shift back to a PD focus may be now. I for one would welcome that change. Respectfully, Bob Martone [log in to unmask] http://www.samlink.com/~bmartone