Re: open forum about pkt

[Galbraith.James@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (James K. Galbraith)]

Thanks to Ric for again raising this subject.

I have not been contributing to pkt lately for just the reason ric cites:
too many postings by too few people.  And many of the postings are of an
undisciplined, quick-retort variety. Some in the present group of posters
seem to feel an urge to run through all of the threads on a given day, and
to throw their thought on each one into the mix.  Four or five postings from
five or six people accounts for up to 30 or so messages per day.  Moreover,
many people still feel the urge to copy huge passages from the preceding
post before typing in their response, and some use headers (eg, "response to
Thornton Wheeler") that are without intrinsic meaning.

I recognize and respect the view, expressed by bill mitchell quite some time
ago, that these lists are best seen and enjoyed as 'cocktail party chatter.'
 I'm not much of a cocktail-party person. My own preference would be for the
lists to be used sparingly, for careful professional discussion, such as
does happen quite successfully in the 'seminar' threads. I would like to see
comments aimed at the whole list of 400 persons, so as to solicit responses
from a wider range of participants. And I'd like to see fewer postings from
any one person, each time I collect my mail.

It would be good to know whether others in the non-posting community share
this perspective, and whether they would post, once in a while, if they
didn't feel that to do so would be 'butting in' on a small-group discussion.
It is clear, though, that even if there is a significant body of opinion
favoring a change of climate, this is not a sufficient condition. To change
the character of the list would require the present group of
frequent-posters to agree to back off a bit, contribute perhaps to only one
or two threads at a time, take more time over their contributions, reorient
them to a readership of the whole list, and otherwise create some airspace
for wider participation and deeper discussion. JG.

*****
James K. Galbraith
LBJ School of Public Affairs
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin TX 78713
Phone: 512-471-1244 (o)
Fax:  512-471-1835 (o) 512-480-0246 (h)
Email: Galbraith.James@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx