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Re: "too many notes" -- a modest proposal

2006-01-26 23:41:09
Theodore Ts'o writes:

As a gentle suggestion from one of the Sargeant-At-Arms.  If
you were to keep track of how many messages you have been posting
compared to others, I think you would find that you are one of the
more prolific posters on this thread.

And if you were to look at the total number of posts over the past
three years, I think you would find that I hardly ever post to this
list at all.

However, I receive thousands of messages from the list, most of which
are of no interest to me, and many of which don't even seem to be
related to the nominal purpose of the list ... and I do not complain,
nor do I suggest that others limit their posting for my convenience.
I understand the value of forums in which freedom of expression is
permitted, and I do not apply double standards.

And if you were to stop, take a breath, and post a single message
comprising your thoughts on all of the messages that you have been
reading, and were to self-impose your own quota on the number of
messages you have posted, it would very likely make the IETF list a
more pleasant place to converse.

I don't impose a quota. Quotas are suggestions that others have made,
not me. I only suggested that quotas might be the least of several
evils, for people who cannot resist the temptation to attempt to
silence others with whom they disagree.

If you were to stop and reflect before posting personal attacks on
other people, you, too, could make the list a more pleasant place to
converse.  However, unlike you, I shall not attempt to tell you what
to post or not post.

This is a discpline that I would recommend to all who are
posting to the IETF list ...

But not one that you are willing to put into practice, apparently.

... but given that you are one of the more
prolific as of late and you seem to have suggested the quota idea
without any idea of the potential irony of that statement, I would
like to commend to you your own suggestion.

I didn't suggest any form of censorship.  I only try to make
suggestions that limit the damages of censorship, since I know that
some people can't live without it.

As others have suggested, if you were take as your model the
posting frequency and the thoughtfulness of John Klensin's posts, it
would be hard for you to go wrong.

If you were to take as your model my total abstinence from ad hominem,
you wouldn't have written your post at all.



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