[Trash-talk] NGR Re: Please cut back the ngr posts

[Alan Hoppe]

Well yeah, I mean .. I can't disagree with any points you've made in your 
post. I suppose there's always been those list members silently lurking 
during foolish shenanigan threads and whatnot, and hating that they have all 
the BS to wade through, but holding onto the hope that there's some actual 
on-topic content being posted. And meanwhile there are the list members who 
are participating in the shenanigan posts, who are obviously of an entirely 
different mindset, and getting something completely different out of the 
whole experience.

Is it possible for both camps to coexist? I don't have an answer for that. I 
guess that's the question. One person will say 'if you don't want to read 
the post, just delete it' while another will reply 'but if it's not 
something with content about Garbage, then it has no place here'.

You're right about the difference between gov't censorship and mailing list 
topic policy. I kind of blurred the whole thing into an emotional jumble. 
But it just seemed odd that there's never been any such moderation here 
before, and the topic that caused it to be brought up was political. Anyway, 
I don't equate off-topic moderation with political censorship exactly, and 
Mr. Lick *did* say he's always tried to stay out of it.

I started laying low awhile back, I'll probably go ahead and do that again 
now.

And hey, I hope you don't regret sending the message, Justin - it was 
refreshing to read.

-Alan-
http://groups.msn.com/beautifulgarbage

PS: On a more random note, I think we actually *have* discussed '80s teeny 
boppers on the list. So we can put a check by that one and I, for one, hope 
it never ever comes up again. But if it does, I'll find a way to bring ABBA 
into the conversation as usual, even if that's off-topic in an 
'80s-teeny-bopper thread.



>From: Justin Scott <jmscott42 at spamcop.net>
>To: trash-talk at tcp.com
>Subject: [Trash-talk] NGR Re: Please cut back the ngr posts
>Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 06:20:23 -0800
>
>Uhm, yeah, this list IS only for the discussion of Garbage. There are 
>plenty of
>places you can discuss politics-- the problem here is you have people who
>signed up to talk about (or read about) Garbage, not "anything anyone who 
>likes
>Garbage may feel like talking about." Search Google, go to Democratic
>Underground or MoveOn or Right Thinking. There is plenty of "truth" out 
>there
>if you want to find it; don't expect it to be delivered to you on a Garbage
>mailing list or anywhere else-- you have to read, search, absorb, and come 
>up
>with your own conclusions, not what any one person or organization says. 
>And
>don't automatically trust it just because it agrees with what you WANT to 
>hear.
>
>I personally have just re-signed up to the list after a fairly long period 
>of
>not being on the list because it was so out of control. Guess I made the 
>wrong
>decision and may as well unsubscribe again.
>
>There's a huge difference between "governmental censorship" and someone
>requesting that a privately owned/run mailing list stay on topic. That's 
>the
>beauty of the internet, you can make a list for Garbage fans to discuss
>politics and no one WILL say a word if that's the stated goal (Yahoo 
>groups,
>anyone?). But this isn't that list.  Some of us just don't want to be 
>flooded
>by off-topic emails of any and every color.
>
>I'm only posting this because I think it's a strange mindset to feel like 
>"I've
>been asked not to post political topics on a mailing list about a MUSIC 
>GROUP,
>my rights are being infringed."  It's one thing to discuss political 
>messages
>Shirley's posted, it's totally another to just forward messages from 
>various
>political organizations without any context.
>
>What else should we post? Movie theatre listings for our various cities? A 
>full
>discussion about teeny boppers from the 80's? Favourite recipies? I'd argue 
>any
>of those should be kept off the list.  The difference now is probably the
>people leaving are making a bit more noise, as opposed to just meekly
>unsubscribing when the signal:noise ratio gets unmeasurable.. ;)
>
>I'm sure I'm going to be sorry I posted this.
>
>sigh.

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