Re: rough draft for changes at pkt

[bill mitchell <ECWFM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>Bill,
>The main problem of taking a vote is that it would miss those who have
>already voted by unsubbing from pkt because of the volume. 80% of those
>who unsub do so because of the volume, and this year we averaged around
>14 per month. And during the last few days there has been enough concern
>among members to tell us that this is an issue. We are not going to
>put up any restrictions (particularly the software), but we do need
>to develop professional guidelines and be sensitive that when you
>send a message it automatically goes into 400 mailboxes. And that the
>primary purpose of pkt is to carry out serious professional discussion,
>to provide scholarly work and information in its archives and to explore
>new and exciting ways of providing discussion and information in our
>classrooms and to our colleagues about heterodox economics.
dear ric

i appreciate that 80% of 14 have on ave. been put off by volume. but that in
itself is a potentially misleading figure without further info. What was their
motives for originally subscribing? what other lists are they on? etc etc.
every person who subscribes should be taken care of by all of us, that is true.
i don't think it is the medium where i can take each new subber by the hand and
say welcome mate this is your new home. maybe an intro service could help
make the newcomers more real to the cyber community out here.

but so far i have hardly seen more than the minutest percent of the remaining
400 express worry. and the implied rate of growth in membership
(notwithstanding the 14 per month ave) is strong.

there is also an internal inconsistency in all of this.
(a) we want to be more welcoming to the newcomers to encourage them all to
contribute.
(b) we want to stop volume
(c) imagine if 400 send one message a day.

pkt can obviously not involve (a) if (b).

i should add that i doubt whether i personally have averaged 7 per week for the
time i have been on pkt (2 or more years). but i just hate censorship. it is
the first step towards oppression.

i would like the vote. at least the next 14 who leave this oct. will get a
voice!

kind regards
bill
--
         ####    ##        William F. Mitchell
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