I'm Leaving the List

Hara Ra (harara@shamanics.com)
Mon, 18 Jan 1999 08:34:19 -0800

Over the holidays this year I discovered that the Exi List has gone through a messaging explosion. Instead of the usual 40 - 60 messages per day, it's now running more like 100 per day. Each time I log on and read my email, there are more messages in the In Box, and I haven't been able to clear my In Box for over a month now.

A year or so ago this happened to another list I was on. A nice, informative list about the plant Salvia Divinorum suddenly inflated from 20 messages per day to 120 messages per day. Too much! No content! Too difficult to find interesting messages! Doom!

And, sad to say, despite the heroic efforts to create sub lists, exi - select lists, etc, the basic Exi list is too much for my pore ole DEL finger to handle anymore.

Sure, I know about filters, etc etc. My range of interests makes it difficult to make filters. Why? First of all, I can't do it by name because someone may be great at Quantum Mechanics and hopeless at Economics. I like QM, hate Econ, so by name is useless. Second, doing it by thread is also not too great for threads wander, usually into oblivion but now and then into wonders. So filtering doesn't serve me well.

As for lists like Exi-Select (which I am not leaving), I just haven't seen much traffic.

I think I could handle this idea: (I write this in trepidation that someone has already done this, and I've been just too lazy/busy to go read it off the Extropy site...)

Create 4 or 5 MODERATED lists limited to specific topics. Here are some topics to consider:

	Science
	Uploading
	Machine Intelligence
	Economics
	Governmental Design (ie Libertarian rants, etc)
	Titbits (misc of genuine interest)

The moderators scan the general Exi list for things of interest and sometimes post to these lists. It is understood that anyone posting to the general list may find their messages crossposted to these lists now and then.


Okay. I'm not going to wait around and wade through 500 more messages for responses to this post. All of you are invited to send your remarks to me privately. If any of you are so moved, feel free to send stuff from the Exi List which you think I may find interesting. I will reply to all such messages. If I do something of interest to the Exi community I will ask someone to post my announcements to this list.

PS. As moderator for the Truth Machine list, please send any and all messages on this topic to me privately. Thanks.

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| Hara Ra <harara@shamanics.com> |
| Box 8334 Santa Cruz, CA 95061 |
| |
| Man, Debug Thyself |
| - Graffiti at People's |
| Computer Company - 1976 |
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