Rockin' Rooters: I have received only 2 responses to my recent attempt to Remonstrate and Regulate. The first one is referred to in my response to the second message which I quote below. My second message came from a distant cousin and friend who misinterpreted the word "Reluctantly" that I used at the end. She (my only identity clue) wondered if that was an indication that I'm tired of administering this list. In case anyone else was wondering the same thing, I thought maybe I should repeat my response publicly so that all can see what my feeble attempt at "cleverness" was intended to accomplish. Here's what I said: :-) Thanks, [OMITTED]. No, I'm not ready to cash in yet. It was just another "R" word that fit (and was meant to be "cute") because I hate to be the bad guy who has to remind everybody to stay on course. As you can see, and as I anticipated, it has had a chilling effect on posting. That was a calculated risk. We get so many new people who are lurkers at first that inevitably, whenever an off-topic string gets started, the string becomes the apparent norm to them, and I feel obligated to let them, and the offenders, know that isn't so. I can't always do it privately, because newbies and everybody else won't see the caution flag go up. So I try to dream up clever ways to get the word out publicly without singling out and embarrassing anybody. Sometimes that doesn't work, but this time I think it did. While there have been no new posts since then, neither has anyone unsubscribed as has often happened on other occasions. In fact, we actually gained a new subscriber and are now at a new, all-time high enrollment of 358. I got one other response from a friend who recognized that I was trying to be funny while at the same time doing my job. He laughed and said, "Oh, you're such a hard-a.." I responded telling him with a :-), that I wasn't. If I was, I said, ".. I'd have added, 'Rediculous? Refuse? Resign!'" I'm glad I didn't, though. :-) Happy holidays! -- Dick Marston, ; Rockingham County, NH, GenWeb County Coordinator, [ http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/1706/ ]; Administrator: NHROCKIN mail list