A Scout is Courteous ? Thrifty ?
Patrick G Skelly (scoutldr@AOL.COM)
Mon, 21 Mar 1994 22:15:24 EST
The following is not "flame-mode". It is the result of cold, sober
reflection - then left to settle for the best part of today.
The other day we read a very distressing message from our fellow-Scouter,
Janez Lovsin in Ljubljana, Slovenia : "Since the lack of the disk quota, I
have on our university computer, I am obliged to un-subscribe this mailing
list."
LAST WEEK YOU, THE SCOUTS-L COMMUNITY, TRANSMITTED TEN-THOUSAND-PLUS LINES
(10065 to be exact). I'm not sure just how much disk space it took in
unedited form, but it was on the order of 500K bytes. I saved perhaps 60 per
cent after stripping off all requotes, signatures, and personal messages.
Ladies and Gentlemen: it is almost certainly our own vanity (30-plus line
signatures) and unwillingness to abstract (100-plus line requotes) that
forced Jani to leave our company.
I have a suggestion for ListOwner Jon Eidson that he will probably hate to
think about; but I make it because I truly think we are not capable of
self-discipline ...
Any posting which exceeds one page (60 lines) is to be delayed until the next
day. If it exceed two pages, delay it to the second day following; three
pages, third day; et cetera. Thus, if our message is important or
time-critical, we will learn how to edit for brevity.
I invite your reply, direct to me alone if you prefer. If your consensus is
that I'm unfair in chastising this collective body, that I cared too much for
Jani and his colleagues and my own time pressures, then I shall report that
view to you in my final posting on this forum. Thank you for reading this
far.
"What the Scoutmaster does, his boys will do." - Baden-Powell
- Patrick Skelly, Scouter; "Scout_Ldr@AOL.com"
with copy direct to Janez Lovsin.
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City | 
