At 08:51 AM 5/5/2001 -0700, you wrote: >Mark > >Since I seem to be the one being zeroed in on over this "thing" ... >I'm unsubbing ... > >I have little time for heavy handed control .. or a lack of a sense >of humor > >Dick S. Dick & all - This is the absolute LAST note on this subject. 1. You state that you have little time for heavy handed control. The rest of us have little time for e-mail with unclear intent and vague communications. 2. The fact that we didn't understand your little "joke" doesn't indicate that we have a lack of a sense of humor. It indicates that the joke wasn't funny. 3. Another of your notes today stated that the typo was obvious. Obviously it wasn't obvious to everyone (at least not to me, but then perhaps I'm not the brightest bulb). The biggest problem I see online, in regard to e-mail, is that people ASSUME far too often. In this case, Dick assumed that we all saw the same thing that he did. He assumed that the typo was obvious. He also assumed that we would see a joke in his note. Despite the addition of a smiley emoticon, the "Huh?" still didn't make sense (if a comedian has to explain the punchline....). As the list owner, I was confused by his note and wanted to help clarify whatever the problem or point might have been. Then, I learned that his note and joke was merely something meant to point out an error made by another person. At that point I stepped in and tried to gently remind Dick (and others, if necessary) that notes sent to the mailing list are distributed to more than 200 people on the list. This means that the entire process is shared with 200 people, whether they like it or not. My feeling on this is that no one should ever assume that 200 other people would like to read *anything* that isn't specific to the topic assigned to the list. Therefore, again, I want to remind everyone that we must stick to the topic for the mailing list (that goes for any and all mailing lists online). And we must respect the rights of others to receive e-mail via this list that pertains to that topic and that topic only. Further, I don't want to see any virtual stomping of feet, accompanied by notes saying "I don't like you! You're mean! I'm unsubbing!" If you don't like the list, just leave. There is no need to stomp out and make everyone else miserable as you do it. I don't let my 3-year-old son get away with it. So, my tolerance level for this sort of thing isn't all that high right now. Now, let's get on with GENEALOGY, Cyndi