Re: Re: Lurkers

[Guest guest]

posting once a week min is a bit much to require from some of us who are very busy. time comes in spurts, and I certainly cannot commit to "regular" posting.

www.MajestyFarm.comNorth Garden, Virginia

Re: Lurkers

I think the policy on lurkers is a bit harsh. Why force people to post if they just want to absorb information that is shared in the group? It's as if this group is an exclusive club, and I don't think most people on here want it to be so.I have a source of raw milk. I know very little about farming and making yogurt, etc. so there's not a whole lot I can contribute here. I'm extremely busy. I do, however, enjoy skimming the posts to glean anything I can from them, and I keep an eye out for new members from Wisconsin whom I may be able to help find raw milk. I'm a proud lurker!Tom in Madisonbbarbara2002 wrote:> Hi Everyone,> > I am a lurker here because I lived in the large city all my life and > have nothing to contribute on the list of so many knowledgeable people. > I was on the real farm one time in my life and that was when I was 12 > years old. I'm reading all the posts with my mouth open and learn what I > can from you. I live in Florida where the sales of raw milk is illegal > but it can be purchased as pet food. Someone here gave me the idea of > looking in the health food store for the raw milk and I indeed found > it! Now, I have raw milk every day and also raw goat milk cheeses. > Thank you for the idea! > > Barbara> > > > . We aren't crazy about lurkers, but do understand how busy> life gets sometimes. We do ask that you at least try to post on a> weekly basis, but we're not going to kick you out if you don't. We> will however watch for members that never post, and ask them nicely> to participate before unsubscribing them. Member participation is> important, it is what keeps the list balanced and prevents> domination by a few regular posters.PLEASE BE KIND AND TRIM YOUR POSTS WHEN REPLYING!

[Guest guest]

Armed with my newly-acquired copy of NT and a fresh milk pickup this

afternoon, I shall do my best to mess up my kitchen over the next several

days playing with butter/buttermilk, whey and a first stab at creme fraiche.

So see? There's my post for the week. And probably a bunch for weeks

to come, as I whimper and whine and ask what I did wrong. (lol, just

kidding, I'm far more optimistic than that!)

At 11:45 PM 2/2/04 -0600, you wrote:

>I think the policy on lurkers is a bit harsh. Why force people to post if

they just want to absorb information that is shared in the group? It's as

if this group is an exclusive club, and I don't think most people on here

want it to be so.

>

>I have a source of raw milk. I know very little about farming and making

yogurt, etc. so there's not a whole lot I can contribute here. I'm

extremely busy. I do, however, enjoy skimming the posts to glean anything I

can from them, and I keep an eye out for new members from Wisconsin whom I

may be able to help find raw milk. I'm a proud lurker!

>

>Tom in Madison

MFJ

Some days the bear will eat you, some days you'll eat the bear. ~Joan

Armatrading

[Guest guest]

gotta ditto both responses.

I enjoy skimming through the posts and reading the ones that interest me. But I don't necessarily feel compelled to respond nor to bring up topics for conversation.

In my opinion, a required weekly submission smacks of a subscription fee. I didn't sign on with the understanding that there was a fee involved. And don't quite a few of the posts to this list complain of over-regulation???

And I don't appreciate being termed a "lurker", a word with subliminal negative connotations. If anything call me a "reader". Or a "skimmer". Since I mostly "skim". Not my raw milk. Just the posts to the list.

Thanks,

Shen Farm Nubians

Toccoa, GA

Re: Lurkers

> I think the policy on lurkers is a bit harsh. Why force people to post if they just want to absorb information that is shared in the group? It's as if this group is an exclusive club, and I don't think most people on here want it to be so.Gotta ditto that. Most of the members of any group are primarily lurking. If we all posted weekly, no one would have time to read 'em all, let alone reply. I, too, enjoy skimming and feeling "connected" to kindred spirits, and on those rare occasions when I actually have something valuable to add, I will.--PLEASE BE KIND AND TRIM YOUR POSTS WHEN REPLYING!

[Guest guest]

And ditto to Alison. Well, I'm a bit biased since she is a friend of mine. And I can vouch for her...she's a darn good "reader". No lurking there.

Again, over-regulation turning off loyal list readers with something to offer to the list (when they feel like it).

Sincerely,

Shen Farm Nubians

Toccoa, GA

Re: Lurkers

> I think the policy on lurkers is a bit harsh. Why force people to post if they just want to absorb information that is shared in the group? It's as if this group is an exclusive club, and I don't think most people on here want it to be so.> > I have a source of raw milk. I know very little about farming and making yogurt, etc. so there's not a whole lot I can contribute here. I'm extremely busy. I do, however, enjoy skimming the posts to glean anything I can from them, and I keep an eye out for new members from Wisconsin whom I may be able to help find raw milk. I'm a proud lurker!> > Tom in Madison## Sara,You and I discussed this privately about a month ago and at that time you mentioned wanting people to post monthly. I expressed to you what I see several others have expressed here, that I was unsure what your concern about lurkers was/is and that I though monthly was extreme. Weekly is out of the question for me and I think for many here.Tom's post above also speaks for me as I have told you privately. The extent of what I have to contribute I did contribute last week in the discussion of raw dairy laws in Georgia. So that makes me ineligable to be here, even though I enjoy the list and learn from it?This list is already very high volume and is growing all the time. Besides being an administrative mess for you to keep track of the amount of excess email volume created if you force people on a growing list to post weekly will make it unmanageable for many of us reading.And what qualifies as a weekly post? I moderate a bunch and I mean a bunch of email lists and have for years. Several have several thousand members on them. We discourage people from posting things like 'me to' and 'good job' to help bring down the email volume. So if I or Tom or others here clutter up the list once a week or even once a month with posts like that that have no value since we are here to learn and have nothing to contribute does that count? I might be able to manage a me too post once a week but what use does taht serve.I realise that raw dairy is a topic that can be controversial and agree that you have a right to know who is here and have people send you their background info. As I mentioned I do that on several of the lists I moderate covering dificult topics like vaccines. But required posting? We are not in school here.One other thing to consider is that yahoo has very limited archive space. One list I moderate ran out of archive space 8 months ago. When that happens yahoo eats messages at the rate at which new ones are posted so you loose your achives. So we have lost 8 months of archives. Nothing you can do about it but ask people to trim and try and limit extraneous uneeded posts. Even then you will run out. Do you want to hasten that process by requiring a list that adds members every day and so by extension email volume and archive use by requiring all to post?There is some really valuable stuff in the archives on this list.I would urge you again, as I have privately to rethink this list policy.Alison> > > PLEASE BE KIND AND TRIM YOUR POSTS WHEN REPLYING!