FROM THE LIST-OWNER: Message Subject Tagging

[Guest guest]

Upon consideration, I've come up with a slight alteration to Heidi's

excellent idea of putting an " OFF-TOPIC " tag in the subject lines of

off-topic messages. As points out (and as I've argued before)

political subjects are not necessarily off-topic. Many of the roots of

modern nutritional problems are political, and many of the solutions will

likewise have to be political. I want neither an excessively cumbersome

solution to the problem of post flooding nor one which requires heavily

subjective and therefore argument-inspiring judgements from a diverse array

of list members, and I certainly don't want to change the fundamental

character of this list, which as many people have observed is all but

unique and highly valuable.

Therefore, since the umbrella topic by far most frequently objected to by

some list members (and which sometimes does generate massive torrents of

email) is politics, I'm going to ask that everyone include the capitalized

word " POLITICS " in the subject headers of all messages which include

political content. Unlike discriminations between off-topic and on-topic

subjects, this dividing line should be pretty easy for almost everyone to

see and agree upon in almost every situation, and it should do the best job

of tagging posts some members would rather skip.

Using the " POLITICS " tag, those members who want to avoid political

discussion can do so easily using the methods of their choice (filtering,

deleting before reading, selective browsing on the web, etc.) while those

who want to read or participate in political discussions inside this

community without having to mess around with multiple or

cumbersome tagging rules can proceed almost exactly as they have been.

It will also allow for the relatively clear and unimpeded flow of

conversation into and out of political domains. When the need arises,

people can simply add or remove the tag from subject lines without making

other changes except as dictated by everyday topic drift.

I ask everyone to make a special effort in the coming days and weeks to

ensure that all messages which merit the " POLITICS " tag include it in their

subject lines. This will have the added benefit of getting many of us used

to changing subject lines as needed. As I'm among the worst offenders in

that department, I'll be making an extra effort to try to lead by

example. I don't expect perfection -- I'm certainly not capable of it --

but I do hope you'll all chip in with gentle reminders from time to time to

people who forget (including me) and I hope those of you to whom this

solution is addressed will have some patience during the early days of its

implementation. Habits can't always be built (and rebuilt) overnight.

As to the practical matter of where to put it in the subject line -- it

probably doesn't much matter. Subjects get prefaced with " Re: " and

" " and the like, filtering doesn't require specific

placement and capitalization will aid visual recognition almost regardless

of position. You can use forms like " POLITICS: USDA rules on grass-fed

labeling " , or " USDA rules on grass-fed labeling -- POLITICS " or whatever

else you like as long as placement makes the tag visibly distinct from the

rest of the subject. The tag should not, for example, be adjacent to other

capitalized words; " USDA POLITICS affect new rule on grass-fed labeling "

would be unacceptable.

The one time front placement might be preferable is if a subject line gets

long enough to be truncated on some people's displays. That's an area in

which member feedback will prove useful in the coming weeks.

Please understand that this new guideline is _not_ a preface to more

elaborate tagging and formatting requirements. Cumbersome rules would be

grossly inconsistent with one of my foremost goals for this list, namely to

preserve its casual, free-wheeling spirit. This is a one-off compromise

solution to a long-running problem bothering a substantial number of list

members, nothing more.

As always, you should all feel free to email me offlist with questions or

concerns if you have any. I'm sure the matter will also be subject to

extensive discussion here on the list. <g>

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