THE VOTE IS IN

[MICHAEL A. IVIE]

The motion to kill the off-subject debates has passed.  I have tallied
the votes that came in over the listserver, and those sent by reply directly
to me.  These votes were
accompanied by some really interesting comments, and I thank you all
for them.


It breaks down as follows: 16 yeas, from 3 unidentified areas, Hawaii,
Kansas, New Zealand, Indiana, Oregon (2), Massachusets, Ontario, Mississippi,
Pennsylvania, New South Wales, Tasmania, and Montana.  These votes represent
a much more widespread view than the opposition, both geographically and
otherwise.

The 6 nays were from Iowa, Washington, Michigan, California, France, and
New Jersey.

Interesting comments (paraphrased) included: "What's wrong with being self-
serving, I want people to notice me", and "Its self-censorship" (isn't that
something we already got bored with?).  There was limited
support among those voting aye to continue the biological continuim (3) and
program (1) debates.

I would like to suggest a couple of house-keeping items for the list.
>From the number of return messages caused by full storage media, I think
it would be considerate if people did not return entire messages, especially
if they are long.  This can really eat space, especially after about the
third reply.  Remember that not everyone has a large University computer
system to back them up, and that those in less wealthy countries may have
to actually pay to receive e-mail, and pay by the line.  Use the send
command instead of the forward, and simply quote short passages.

Secondly, we need a new server, called "sidelines" for those that cannot stay
on topic, and will continue to push themselves on the majority.

Thanks

Mike Ivie