RE: NANFA-L-- NANFA is more than this list! <NO FISH CONTENT IN THIS MESSAGE>


Subject: RE: NANFA-L-- NANFA is more than this list!
From: Bob Sinclair (rjs-in-silcom.com)
Date: Tue Aug 31 2004 - 19:09:07 CDT


Chris:

Thanks, but are your words accurate...or a reflection of what some
might believe?

"..there are people quitting or refusing to join NANFA because of all the
off-topic chatter on this list ... and that there are people quitting or
refusing
to join NANFA."

I've read that general thought as expressed by others...but the only
confirmed reports I have of people quitting had to do with several
formerly loyal members dropping out because they were offended
by the way they were treated for posting an "off topic" message or
two to the list.

I'm not saying people are not quitting or refusing to join NANFA because
of off-topic chatter on the list. I just don't know. But it seems to me,
if
this is so, they're interest in native freshwater fishes must not be be very
serious.

Just a thought...

Bob Sinclair
Santa Barbara CA
  -----Original Message-----
  From: owner-nanfa-l-in-nanfa.org
ichthos-in-comcast.net
  Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2004 2:50 PM
  To: nanfa-l-in-nanfa.org
  Subject: NANFA-L-- NANFA is more than this list!

  All you guys who are judging NANFA, hating NANFA, or quitting NANFA solely
on whether the BOD tolerates or attempts to control off-topic discussions on
this email list, are looking through the wrong end of the telescope!

  NANFA is more than a free email list server and the virtual sense of
community it provides. NANFA is a quality publication. It's education and
conservation grants. It's annual conventions. It's cool t-shirts. It's local
collecting trips and grassroots conservation efforts. Many of the people who
are turning their back on NANFA today because of this email list were here
10 years ago when NANFA had nothing -- no publication (or a very shoddy and
inconsistent one), no money, no conventions, no t-shirts, no public
outreach, no grants, no credibility and respect among the academic,
government, and conservation sectors -- and certainly no email list. Yet
despite these tremendous strides, you choose to judge NANFA solely on
whether people on the email list share your political views, or are nice to
you, or that they even dare ask you to refrain from irrelevant or off-topic
posts. That just doesn't make any sense to me.

  Furthermore, it absolutely drives me batty knowing that there are people
quitting or refusing to join NANFA because of all the off-topic chatter on
this list ... and that there are people quitting or refusing to join NANFA
because any attaempt to control this chatter is deemed censorship. Does
anyone besides me see how stupid this is?

  And speaking of censorship, what's so gosh-darn wrong about limiting this
list to discussions about fish? If Bob Sinclair submitted reviews of his
favorite gangsta rap albums to AC, would you want to read them? Would I be
guilty of censorship for refusing to print them?

  Chris Scharpf

  (currently up the street from Puget Sound)

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: Wed Sep 29 2004 - 12:24:26 CDT