[Colorado-Talk] Commenting on Comments as of Late

Fri Aug 28 15:00:10 UTC 2020

Greetings Colorado and our other friends scattered throughout the world!!

I have been reading with interest and concern the flurry of emails regarding
what is appropriate for this list and that which is not.  Arguments have
been made that unless a post is specifically Colorado related, same should
not be shared on this list because it causes too much clutter etc.  First of
all, it is ironic that the profusion of emails on this topic has, arguably,
contributed to the alleged problem.

In any event, the overall purpose of this list is primarily two fold:
first, it is a primary vehicle to communicate with one another in the
Colorado affiliate; and second, this list serves to help us build the
Federation.  I regard the  emails from South Carolina as something that
informs us and thus contributes to helping us build the organization.  In my
view, the numerosity of the messages has not been extreme or burdensome.
Our Colorado affiliate does not exist on an island, and we can learn a great
deal from other parts of our Federation family.

Because of my involvement in the NFB, the ABA, WIPO, DAISY, the Colorado
Bar, and so on, I literally receive, on average, from 300 to 500 emails a
day from a large number of lists.  The vast majority of such emails are
mostly not relevant to me at that moment and I exercise with great authority
the delete key or stuff the message into another folder for future use.  In
this particular instance, I don't think we receive so many posts from SC
that if you are not interested in them, pushing delete does not unduly waste
time.  Now in this last week, we received more messages than usual because
of the SC Convention, and I think several of our members benefited from
being able to first know about it and then Zoom on over to it.  As we ramp
up for our Convention, October 29th through the 31st, I and others will be
spreading far and wide information about    what will be the best state
convention anywhere and everywhere, and undoubtedly those messages will land
on other states' list serves and arguably could become annoying to some.
However, I hope that many others will benefit from knowing about what we are
doing and join us in the Cloud that weekend.

The type of emails that have surfaced here in the last week are not unique
to this list.  I have seen a similar pattern on many other lists, and I have
noticed, with some bemusement, that people get quite cranky about the amount
of emails which may not be directly on point to the purpose of the given
list and get quite offended about the transmission  of same.  People then
express their angst on list and deliver it with sharp and cutting criticism.
This in turn creates an unwelcoming environment, and people's feeling get
hurt or their sensibilities offended.  Inexorably, this leads to people
leaving whatever community is in question and thus precluding themselves
from valuable information and exchange and depriving the community of those
individuals' contributions.  

Granted, there are times when traffic can become too much or messages wander
so far off topic that it creates trouble.  I don't think that has become the
case here on our list, but it is always worthwhile to reexamine  policies
and practices of our various activities.  Thus, I will be appointing a
committee to evaluate the purposes and practices on this list and assess
whether there is need to change policy etc.

Finally, let me conclude this message with this thought.  I really do
believe we are a family which means we are an imperfect entity.
Nevertheless, our actions and interactions should be motivated by and
governed by love for one another and patience and tolerance for the foibles
we all possess.  The need to stay close and express compassion is
particularly keen during these trouble times in our world.  

With love,

Scott 

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