[HANASHIR:1890] RE: list philosophy

[Serle, Brian <BSerle...>]

Adrian, you bring up a very interesting point.  If this list is ONLY to
share information about songleading and Jewish music, and related
Judaica - such as the recent discussions about copyrights, holiday
music, notation, and the like - then perhaps it is wrong to write
"frivolous" messages.

However, I disagree with that.  It is MY opinion that the HN list is
supposed to do all of the above PLUS give HN alumni and wanna-be alumni
some of the "feel" and texture of what this whole songleading experience
is all about.  Having contributed my share of "frivolous" messages to
this list, I would be the first one to admit that maybe I do this out of
a desperate need to stay in touch with the REAL world of Jewish music
leaders, while suffering through a miserable day as an investment
consultant!

Regards,

Brian

        -----Original Message-----
        From:   Adrian A. Durlester [SMTP:durleste (at) home(dot)com]
        Sent:   Thursday, December 03, 1998 9:58 AM
        To:     Hanashir (E-mail)
        Subject:        [HANASHIR:1889] list philosophy

        Every once in a while, I get a message from someone who is
leaving the list
        because they have to wade through so many frivolous messages.

        Today, I finally replied to once such person. And here is what I
said:

        -------------------

        I'm sorry you feel the way you do. This is the nature of online
        communities-they are communities. They are not intended to just
be simple
        business resources. While some lists moderate (and I manage
several other
        major lists, some of which are moderated) Hanashir is
self-policing and
        probably best left that way because it is as much a community of
friends as
        it is a resource. And it is the only place online where these
subjects are
        being discussed. The ACC lists and Jewish-Music have totally
different
        interests.

        I would suggest that if you find you are wading through too many
needless
        messages, that you might need a better mail application that
previews
        message content before you open them, and has filters which you
can use. The
        efficiency of computer use comes not from just owning them, but
from the
        user making the effort to apply their power.

        Also, I would ask: how many pieces of new music from
Transcontinental and
        other sources do you wade through to select the one or two you
might
        actually like and use? There is always more chaff than wheat.

        ----------------------

        Hanashir will continue to be an un-moderated self-policing list.
While I
        don't want to encourage needless irrelevant postings, I do not
want to lose
        our sense of community. If a discussion strays too much, I will
gently try
        and steer it off the list. But I enjoy the witty repartee and I
trust most
        of our subscribers do as well.

        Your thoughts, fellow travelers?

        Adrian

        
------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Adrian A. Durlester  -  durleste (at) home(dot)com
        http://members.home.net/durleste/
        Student, Vanderbilt University Divinity School
        http://divinity.lib.vanderbilt.edu/vds/vds-home.htm
        Music Director, Congregation Micah, Nashville, TN
        http://www.micahnash.org/
        Home phone (615) 646-9788
        Nextel cel-phone (615) 207-2661
        You can page me from http://www.nextel.com
        List-Owner for hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org; Co-Owner for
L-Torah (at) shamash(dot)org
        http://uahc.org/hanashir
        Editor, Bim Bam (for Torah Aura Productions)
        http://www.torahaura.com/
        Evening Program Chair, CAJE 23 - San Antonio TX, Aug 9-13, 1998
        http://www.caje.org
        Alternate Email: aad (at) iname(dot)com  adriand (at) aol(dot)com