From: ducky@yabbs
To: all@yabbs
Subject: and also. . .
Date: Thu Jul 21 08:34:04 1994

Here are a few more things I thought of during and after composing my
last post that I think need to be said. . .


-- Topi is right when she said that there are many important issues
worth discussing and not "sweeping under the carpet".  However, if
yabbs is your primary (or only) outlet for discussion on them, perhaps
you need to look for some other venues for discussing them.  If you are
on or near a college or university campus, it should be easy to find
people to discuss important topics with.  However, even if you're not,
try just talking with friends or coworkers.  It may not be as easy as
discussing something on yabbs, for many reasons, but I think the
personal interaction is in the long run both more stimulating and
rewarding.


-- This bbs continues to exist only because of the cooperation and
general acceptance of some unwritten code of conduct among its users.
If a group of users, or even just one, are determined enough to behave
antisocially, this bbs would not to continue to exist as a place that
most of the regular users would want to conenct to.


-- Which leads me to this:  Certain message bases have been created for
the discussion of certain topics.  If people aren't willing to try to
put their posts in the appropriate base, then what is the point of
having multiple named bases?  Why not just one big one?  Or just bases
named '1', '2', '3' and so on?  This comment isn't directed at any
specific instance, but at a lot of misdirected postings that have been
happening recently.


-- And finally, as a bit of an old-timer around these parts (I still
remember when yabbs was just an idea in Alex's head, and slightly later
when it was a single user bbs on his 386 under DOS), let me just point
out some of what a couple of bases are intended to be for.  They may
have mutated slightly from the original intention, but that is quite
alright.  This base 'Social Misfits' is just a general chatter and
social board.  It is to some extent a catch-all when no better forum
exists, but if there is something being discussed regularly here, it
will probably get its own base if someone asks Alex really nicely.
Base 'X', 'Anarchy in the US' is intended to be for the discussion of
all forms of politics, not just anarchy.  (Like many, many things in
yabbs, the base name was a bit of a joke.)  This could easily be
expanded to include discussion of various political issues (like the
abortion debate) not just politics and government itself.


blah, enough babble. . .

-k