Not a flame!

[Cedar Falls Public Library Acct #1]

I guess I'll have to apologize for bringing up an "issue"
when this listserv is supposed to be for "how to."  
I didn't read that part of the greeting message because
Web4lib was recommended to me because it was perceived
to be a great place to read really good discussions of 
the issues confronted by those who bring their library to
the Web and the Web to their library.  There _has_ been quite
a lot of nit-picking but I've actually been pretty happy 
with the information and variety of perspectives I've 
gotten out of those discussions.  Maybe Steven Westman is
right, that we should have 2 listservs, but I'm also 
wondering if the issues might end up following the practice.

--Barb

On Thu, 1 Aug 1996, Steve Westman wrote:

Actually, rather than flaming, I would like to give a (somewhat qualified)
endorsement to what Ross wrote.  I DO think that some of the issues
discussed are of SOME interest and I like the idea of having a place where
people can discuss these sorts of issues.  Listening in (and
participating) in these discussions can be a way of seeing what issues are
out there and causes one to think (and share one's thoughts with others). 

That said, I have to admit that I do find the (at times seemingly endless)
picking up (and apart) of threads to be an extremely annoying waste of
bandwidth.  As University webmaster and sole NOTIS programmer in my
school, I don't really have the time to wade through 30-40 postings on
whether one will go to jail (or SHOULD go to jail) for pointing to the CNN
website or whether I am a fascist-fellow-traveller because I don't
single-handedly decide to turn the background of the University's web page
black to protest a provision in a law that was clearly going to be found
unconstitutional anyway. 

After being initially enthusiastic about WEB4LIB, I find that it just
takes too much time of trying to separate the (all-too-often sparse) wheat
from the chaff. As a result, I have taken to not reading my email from the
group for weeks at a time (and then half-heartedly trying to find
something of interest).  Then the problem becomes whether to erase 
everything sight unseen, or fill up my hard disk because I don't have the 
time to read through all of the messages.

As I said in the first paragraph, I think DO that there is a place for
these types of discussions.  Perhaps there could be a second listserve
(somewhat along the lines of what is done on Usenet) as in WEB4LIB.D. 
That way, discussions on ISSUES could be divorced from discussions on HOW
TO. I realize that I, like Russ, may look like an over-cooked Pop Tart
from the number of flames that I will get.  However, I am afraid that
there may be others out there who might have something to offer the group,
but who are unwilling to spend the time to sift through everything. 

Anyway, just my $.02. 


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