[C320-list] Let's keep the list useful to many

[Tony Murphy]

Bruce,

Thanks for your advice on the response.  I do agree with you that the “digest version” cuts down on the amount of emails I receive in any 1 day.  I actually tried the digest version for a while back in 2012 and 2013, but I found that it I had a very difficult time finding the useful information in the digest email.  I subscribe to several other organizations forum lists and usually choose digest when the responses are limited. However, on C320 for some reason the trend is as follows... the first email comes across to be “digested”… then the user responds to the email and quotes the entire first message in his/her response. Then the second user responds and quotes the first two entire emails in his/her response.  Before you know it, the 5th or 6th responder are sending emails, quoting everyones earlier emails in total to the “digest” and you can have a digest that is over 1,000 lines long (and I’m not exaggerating).

When you get your 1 or 2 digest emails for the day, try to weed through the 1,000+ line email to find the meat is difficult at best.  If you don’t believe me, turn on digest for your subscription and you’ll see what I mean.

As I said before… I will remain a faithful follower to the C320 list because I find it quite useful to see what other owners have done to solve their boat problems.  I used this list and the sage advice of Jeff Hare to attach my whisker pole last summer and improved my boat performance by a large amount in our annual Regatta.  I’ve also worked on my sanitation tanks and electrical system upgrades based on other users experiences.

I was just hoping to offer a helpful suggestion to improve the quality of the list and prevent others from becoming as frustrated as I am with the low signal content (which obviously isn’t improved by messages like these).  I promise I’m not trying to be the crotchety old man telling the kids to “get off my lawn”.   But I believe I’m not the only one that wants to make this list into a powerful tool that it can be.  I believe way too many users leave it or ignore it because it has turned into a chatterbox of sorts.  


Tony Murphy
Bella Sol #886


On Jan 17, 2014, at 4:28 PM, B. Stumpp <bstumpp at comcast.net> wrote:

> Tony, 
> 
> 
> 
> You might want to subscribe to the "digest" version of the list.  Many
> people do not know about this option.  It combines all the emails into one
> or two digest emails a day rather than getting an email for every post that
> is made.   Unfortunately, it's been a long time since I started using this
> option so hopefully someone who nows how to do it can post the instructions.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The list is an important commuication vehicle for the C320IA members to
> share info about the rendezvous and to see who is attending.  Also, if there
> are questions then everyone can see the responses and Jerry won't have to
> repond to questions multiple times.   To keep the RSVP traffic lower,
> perhaps the members who are not attending could send a personal email to
> Jerry rather than posting their non-particiaption on the list.              
> 
> 
> 
> Bruce Stumpp
> 
> Adventure, #647
> 
> Frog Mortar Creek, Maryland
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Message: 5
> 
> Date: Fri, 17 Jan 2014 11:43:37 -0600
> 
> From: Tony Murphy <tony at midwestphysics.com>
> 
> To: C320-List at Catalina320.com, jerry at jerrytaylorhomes.com
> 
> Subject: [C320-list] Let's keep the list useful to many
> 
> Message-ID: <F54378FA-AFD2-44D4-B4FC-AEEB2E707D9E at midwestphysics.com>
> 
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
> 
> 
> 
> Jerry,
> 
> 
> 
> I want to take a minute to commend you on your volunteer efforts in helping
> to organize the 2014 C320 Rendezvous in Solomon Islands.  This work is often
> thankless and except for the friendships you make often goes unrewarded.
> 
> 
> 
> However (there?s always a however, isn?t there?)? I would ask that you think
> about possibly taking the registration questions and emails off the C320
> list.  It?s a perfectly good use of the list to send out notices and even
> 2nd request notifications as reminders.  But for the hundreds of subscribers
> that use the list to exchange useful information about our boats, it?s a
> huge waste of time to constantly weed through emails and delete messages
> that say ?Sorry, can?t make it?? ?I can?t make it either?? ?our dog has
> surgery, but we?d love to come, take pictures for us?.  I believe more than
> 1 person has considered unsubscribing from the list solely because of the
> event replies recently and this is not good.
> 
> 
> 
> I do like the friendships and social part of this list that result, but the
> last few weeks I believe has tested many subscribers patience (I?m guessing
> others have my concern but have remained silent).
> 
> 
> 
> So, to not just offer criticism, but to also be part of the solution, I
> would like to offer the following.  For this event (or any future events),
> there are many FREE ONLINE SERVICES that offer event signup.
> Signupgenius.com is just one of the many sites that come to mind, but there
> are others.  I would even be willing to help coordinate this effort if asked
> to do so? 
> 
> 
> 
> You could even post the link to the signup on the list daily as a reminder
> and it would be way less emails and keep the SNR (signal-to-noise-ratio) a
> bit higher than it has been lately.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tony Murphy
> 
> Bella Sol #886
> 
> Walker, MN
> 
> 
> 
> p.s.  I won?t be attending the 2013 event
> 
> 
> 
> 
>