On Tue, 22 Nov 2005, Bill Kelly wrote:

> From: "Curt Sampson" <cjs / cynic.net>
>> 
>> (Oh, and yes, I do use a threading reader for this list.)
>
> Can your reader be configured to automatically junk [OT] posts? (Not
> intended as a snide retort, just honestly wondering.)

Yes. I use Pine, which is actually fairly sophisticated these days
(sophisticated enough that I, as a programmer, haven't yet found it
worth switching to mutt). Surprisingly, it's also still reasonably easy
for a novice to use.

Or I could junk them in my procmail filters as well. But whilst that
helps the S/N ratio somewhat, I still find even the on-topic stuff more
wordy than it has to be.

I don't know how many people are on this list, but I'm suspecting
several thousand. That means that a post that takes someone three
seconds to open, scan and delete could easily be using up 2-3 hours
of the collective time of people on this list. Programmers are paid
reasonably well, so you could say that a short post to this list is
going to cost a minimum of $50, and could easily go into the thousands
of dollars for something that takes a bit more reading time.

So ask yourself, when you post: is it really worth spending that much
money on my posting?

cjs
-- 
Curt Sampson            <cjs / cynic.net>             +81 90 7737 2974
   The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism
   by those who have not got it.    --George Bernard Shaw