[Lowfer] Re: Reflector

[John D]

>"Ditto Alberto's comments! Two separate needs are being met by two 
>different vehicles."

That's what I said over 24 hours ago after Alberto first sent the exact same 
post that came through again this morning.

For hopefully the last time:  This is not about one set of needs VERSUS 
another, or one approach VERSUS another.  This is about jumping from one 
status quo to another without any planning for a framework within which 
individual efforts can come along (and yes, go away, as we all eventually 
do), thus strengthening the community by making it more visible; not further 
fragmenting it.

This is what I've been trying for years to build with the LWCA site...not 
something to compete with or replace what others are doing on their own, but 
a grand repository to showcase it all.  I've tried not to hammer anyone over 
the head with that idea in the past, apparently to the detriment of my 
cause, since so many have gone their own ways without regard to the future 
or those who will come behind us.  Fortunately, Peter and Warren and some 
others seem to see what I'm getting at now, so I'll continue to try to work 
with those of similar goals and we'll see what happens.  I don't offer any 
one-size-fits-all pre-manufactured software solutions, though.  I think the 
kind of framework I'm talking about will require customization and TLC that 
only comes from continuing dialogue, not 20-second soundbites on an email 
reflector.

The whole fuss is only _secondarily_ about the irony of having been slapped 
down at one time for suggesting e-mail reflectors weren't the best way to 
handle postings with files and offering an alternative and/or supplement, 
then coming home one night to find half of everybody has jumped on that same 
alternative elsewhere.  I have to be honest, there's a certain dismay factor 
in that!  I trust I can be forgiven for taking it a bit personally.

Finally, for what it's worth, the comment about liking everything to come in 
with a single click on the email button isn't mine--it's an almost direct 
quote from one of the list members who responded to my proposal on the other 
list last year.  It's the touchstone that best seems to sum up the ho-hum 
response the proposal received.

John