TRIP TO GERMANY!!!!!!!!!!!

[jason@scirocco.org (Jason)]

At 05:18 AM 10/8/2002, Rabbit16v wrote:
>Well, I'm glad you asked!  Since you asked a question, I will give you an
>answer and not swear at you for no apparent reason.  I didn't know exactly
>what I would get for reply's but I didn't think people would tell me to shut
>the f**k up when they admitted they hadn't even been paying attention to the
>rest of the Germany conversation.

Regardless of whether I had paid attention to the rest of the conversation, 
the thread was, without question, appropriate to be held on-list.  I've 
never been a fan of people writing "please take this off-list" e-mails, as 
human conversations will always get side-tracked.  Say you're at a party 
discussing beer with a bunch of friends, and someone starts telling a funny 
story about something not fully related to beer.  If everyone in the group 
is disinterested in his story, they will turn back to each other and 
continue their conversation.  However, if a bunch of them are interested, 
and someone turned around and interrupted the story, whining "please guys, 
we were talking about beer, let's not get side-tracked", all those who were 
interested would get annoyed.

A mailing list, like other social structures, is self-regulating.  People 
tend to ignore people they don't want to hear from.  Thus there need be no 
"please take it off-topic" police.  The distinction between "On-Topic" and 
"Off-Topic" is nothing more than what the group as a whole wants.  We're 
all on this list because of some attachment to a specific model of car, but 
there's much more to all of us than merely that.

If this list were devoid of anyone's interests other than purely 
Scirocco-related questions, none of us would be reading it.  It would be 
question, answer; question, answer; question, answer.  The good 
conversations -- the fights, arguments, debates, and funny stories, are 
almost all off-topic.  And that's what makes this (or any list) interesting.



>No, I didn't, only the planning for a trip.  I want to hear about sciroccos,
>VWs, or even European cars for that matter, not where are we gonna stay,
>eat, drink, drive, how much is gas, shipping, hostels and your opinions on
>them, etc.  Sounds like a Martha Stewart goes to Europe list!

The whole point of a discussion forum is for people to help each other out 
by sharing information.  If Josh restricted his conversation about the trip 
to just the people that were planning on going, he wouldn't get much 
information -- especially since the people going on this kind of trip are 
likely not the same people who have a lot of experience over there.  I'm 
not going -- but grew up in Germany and am there several times a year.  And 
I'm glad to offer any advice or knowledge to help their trip.  As should you.


>That's fine with me, man, I'm just glad someone finally answered my
>question!  Man, and I thought this list was full of answers!  :)

It is!  They're usually smart-assed, but they're answers.
I do have a question for you though, and I'm not being facetious here, just 
curious.  I want to know what goes through the mind of someone who posts a 
"please take this off-list" e-mail.  Why take the time to write an e-mail 
complaining about what's being discussed, when discussion is the whole 
point of a list?

To a small extent I can understand that not everyone is interested in the 
fine, delicate art of using anal beads, or how toe infections can turn 
gangrenous... but isn't it just so much faster and less abrasive to just 
hit the delete key if you're not interested?  Is there some reason that you 
feel you have the right to tell other people what they can and cannot talk 
about -- even though you can just as easily not read it?  Wouldn't that be 
akin to telling the FCC to ban Howard Stern because you don't like him, 
when you can just turn the radio off?

Again, I'm not being facetious, I'm curious.  I see a lot of similarities 
between your request and the religious right demanding that Will & Grace be 
removed from television... when the simple fact remains that the world 
doesn't revolve around you:  There are other people who are enjoying it, so 
why can't you just change the channel?

Thanks --
Jason





>Dave
>
>
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