The argument for Unsubscription.

[Andrew Beattie]

Nigel Rantor wrote:
> As much as that sounds like a good idea I'd rather not be on a list 
> where people get unsubbed like that.
This is a fine and civil stance to take.

But my experience is that it it doesn't work.  I would like to share 
that experience.

Many years ago, I was very active in the Usenet newsgroup rec.kites.
The group was one of the most valuable resources in kite flying.

*Everyone* in kite flying was there.  From all round the world, From all 
branches of kite flying.

Personaly, I would spend two or three hours a day involved in that 
community.  It was worth the effort of writing detailed, informative and 
entertaining postings because you could be sure that they would be 
read.  Experts would debate.  Nebies would be helped. The 
signal-to-noise was excellent.

That community was destroyed by folk like Lyle.  They filled it with 
waffle.  Since new folk arrive all the time, some of them accepted this 
as the norm and the quality of the group staarted to decline.  People 
stopped reading every posting.  Other folk left.  The really good 
contributors stopped contributing because there is no point writing an 
excellent piece if it is not going to be read.  The group which was once 
a central pillar of the international kite community is now dead.

But really disturbing thing was the number of  folk that it took to 
destroy the group:

TWO.  Their names were Frank Kenisky and Roger Maddy.

You have the power to unsubscribe people.  We didn't.  Use it wisely.

Andrew