At the risk of wasting bandwidth, the interchange on use of this list
reminded me of a post I received from a different list. Sort of a loose
meta-analysis of email patterns?
> Q: How many list subscribers does it take to change a light bulb?
>
> A: 1,331.
>
> 1 to change the light bulb and to post to the list that the light bulb
> has been changed.
>
> 14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the
> light bulb could have been changed differently.
>
> 7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs.
>
> 27 to point out spelling/grammar errors in posts about changing light
> bulbs.
>
> 53 to flame the spell checkers.
>
> 156 to write to the list administrator complaining about the light
> bulb discussion and its inappropriateness to this mail list.
>
> 41 to correct spelling in the spelling/grammar flames.
>
> 109 to post that this list is not about light bulbs and to please take
> this email exchange to alt.lite.bulb.
>
> 203 to demand that cross posting to alt.grammar, alt.spelling and
> alt.punctuation about changing light bulbs be stopped.
>
> 111 to defend the posting to this list saying that we all use light
> bulbs and therefore the posts **are** relevant to this mail list.
>
> 306 to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where
> to buy the best light bulbs, what brand of light bulbs work best for
> this technique, and what brands are faulty.
>
> 27 to post URLs where one can see examples of different light bulbs.
>
> 14 to post that the URLs were posted incorrectly, and to post
> corrected URLs.
>
> 3 to post about links they found from the URLs that are relevant to
> this list which makes light bulbs relevant to this list.
>
> 33 to summarize all posts to date, then quote them including all
> headers and footers, and then add "Me Too."
>
> 12 to post to the list that they are unsubscribing because they cannot
> handle the light bulb controversy.
>
> 19 to quote the "Me Too's" to say, "Me Three."
>
> 4 to suggest that posters request the light bulb FAQ.
>
> 1 to propose a new alt.CHANGE.lite.bulb newsgroup.
>
> 47 to say this is just what this list was meant for, leave it here.
>
> 143 votes for alt.lite.bulb.
--
Ken A. Smith
Associate Professor
School of Management
Syracuse University