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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (62539)	12/20/2002 5:10:02 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Hi Neo - don't let the holiday pressures get you down. Take a deep breath, chill for a while, and come back smiling. We'll save your favorite chair for you. At least, I think it's your favorite chair. Reclinable Morris chair, tobacco colored leather upholstery, paisley cushions? I have a maroon fez and matching carpet slippers on the table next to you. And a nice adjustable lamp.

To: Neocon who wrote (62539)	12/20/2002 6:49:31 PM
From: Rascal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Come on. Come on back.

To: Neocon who wrote (62539)	12/20/2002 6:54:40 PM
From: FaultLine	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 281500

Hello Neocon and All The FADG Posters; I cannot contribute if every spontaneous comment becomes an object of scrutiny But this is not a chat thread, I hope you understand that. I've received many complaints over the past six months concerning the large number, I repeat, large number, of daily posts. Yes, I will banter with people but I consider it a part of my job -- to engage the friends of the thread. When we find, however, that we must plow through 150 messages to get the 20 that truly count, well, that's not meeting my goals and I'm sure some others feel the same way. I have appreciated your contributions and I understand, to some extent, your surprise, but everyone needs to understand that when I occasionally pull the strings, I try to do it for everyone, and for the 'perceived' benefit of the thread. And please, I'm not 'Out to get you'. Heck, I make mistakes, two or three this year <g>, but that's OK because 'it goes with the job'; a good moderator does the best he/she can and learns lessons along the way. In general, IMO, the participants are inclined to cut the moderator a little slack when the job is generally done well. I take the job seriously and I think everyone here feels similarly -- birds of a feather as it were. We are trying to maintain a place where information is posted after some self imposed mental vetting. We then lay it out for the edification of the group. There are zero, none, nada, zip reasons for coming after, and I say this to everyone, your fellow posters: disparaging them, insulting them, or belittling them. Several posters experienced difficulty with this idea. I cannot even fathom how a two line post could be serious thread bloat, with some of the dreadfully long, tendentious pieces that are posted here being acceptable. The idea of 'thread bloat' is, in my mind, strongly bound to the number of total posts relative to the number of, with in the context of the thread guidelines, useful posts -- that is to say, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). I'd like to see the ratio above 70% or so but when we start going to and fro with one-liners the SNR goes into the tank and people start dropping their bookmarks because the thread is not worth the trouble. Funny, I've been recently thinking that, considering all the PM's I have received expressing appreciation for the quality of the postings and the for value that people take away from the thread, I've begun to change my opinion of what it is that we are really doing here. It seems more and more to me, that we cheerfully rise each day and essentially put on a performance, the best analysis we can, for the benefit of each other and for a silent audience of lurkers out there. In fact, many posters seem to relish this role and find the experience valuable. If this is indeed the correct perception, that we have almost become a public service for many readers, well, I think we should acknowledge that and try to make it the best that we can and attract the best people that we can. At least, that's the way I'm seeing things lately. Maybe I did put on my 'strict' face this morning. Maybe you and Karen just happen to cross the road at the wrong moment, but that's OK because we are all friends here who are trying to think about what we do in the big picture. Thanks for reading my essay. Cheers, --ken/fl