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We all talk about this group as if it is a cyber quilting bee. It isnt. It
is a quilting lesson, ongoing and dynamic. They are lessons we each pay for.
Some pay more, some pay less, but dang it, we all pay to be here.
Picture having a quilting lesson at your local quilt store where every so
often a person pops into the class room and advertises something,
interupting the lessons you paid for. You'd be right to be upset. It could
be your best friend in the world, offering to quilt for you, or a total
stranger offering a better way of living thru pills or what have you. Its
the same thing, an interuption.
But what about OT posts, you ask. Arent they an interruption as well? Yes,
when we forget to mark them as being off topic, to the paying subscriber to
this group, they are, for some, an unwanted interruption of what they pay to
come here for. Quilt lessons. When we do remember to use the OT in the
header it is as if we have excused ourselves to the little room over there
with the coffee urn and the nummy desserts where we wont be interupting the
other quilters with our chatter.
We all have the right to be here. We have the right to a newsgroup that
the majority will find useful and fun. Along with those rights comes a
serious responsibilty to police ourselves and our own posts. If we decide as
a group to allow people to post ads where do we draw the line? Who gets to
post ads and how many and how often is offensive? Do we get to pick on
people who are obviously not regular posters? Who is going to police such a
wishy washy policy?
Does it make more sense to make a blanket policy that advertisments are to
go to rec.crafts.textiles.marketplace? That is what it is for.
Rant mode over, back to quilting
Diana