The Charter, with the guidelines contained in it, seemed to
be quite effective ... for a while.
For a while, traffic was manageable and most messages met
the relevance & appropriateness criteria set out in the
guidelines. In fact, it is probably true that
traffic was manageable (and generally interesting and
helpful) _because_ contributors were respecting the
guidelines.
But I seem to detect a drift. I've noted an increase in the
flow of messages, by various contributors, that in my
[humble?] opinion do not meet the stated criteria. Such
messages clutter the list and are a mark of disrespect to
the list-owner who presented us with very appropriate
guidelines.
If someone does not agree with some aspect of the
guidelines, they can write to Barbara Patterson or to the
list. That's OK. But it is not OK to simply ignore the
guidelines.
Ben Winter (ducking, running for cover, ...)
