From jkl@ccl.net  Sun Oct 17 13:57:39 1993
From: Jan Labanowski <jkl@ccl.net>
Date: Sun, 17 Oct 1993 17:57:39 -0400
Message-Id: <199310172157.AA27071@krakow.ccl.net>
To: chemistry@ccl.net
Subject: CCL resumes


Dear Netters,

The Computational list resumes after few days of suspension.
Thank you all for your comments, support and criticism. I was able to answer 
only a few messages, due to the volume, but I read all your comments and
gave a good thought to each and every one. In the future send your comments
about the list to me, rather than a list. PLEASE...

Now, why I do not implement all your suggestions? Sure, I do not have time...
But there is also something else... Apart from the fact that
there are substantial differences in opinions, I also look from a different
perspective. My goal is to find a compromise between all users of the list
and to keep it lively even if it means some inconvenience for all of us.
I also have to protect minority interests on this list. 

My major concern is to limit the NOISE on the list. Why? 
  1) Firstly, because it is not a free service. YES, somebody pays for it.
     If it is not you (though many subscribers PAY PERSONALLY for each byte
     of e-mail they get!) then it is your institution, my institution and
     taxpayers. Remember, if we abuse the network, it may be taken from us!

  2) The people WHO KNOW THE ANSWERS are usually busy people and are very
     annoyed when the noise on the list is larger than they can cope with.
     And if they all unsubscribe, the list will be a gossip forum, not
     a science list.

Some say that I should only post subjects, and then, people who are interested
can download the message. I personally believe that taking interactivity
away will kill the list. Who would want to download a question? Oh, well,
maybe I am too cynical... On the other hand, people forget about archives.
All messages are archived before they are even distributed. So if someone
prefers, he/she may always download a batch of yesterday's messages and
scan them once a day instead of being distracted by frequent messages.

Now, there is a growing need for A FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) file.
This is a BIG task, and I want to coordinate it. I will post a separate
message on this in a few days.

Now, I want to stress a few things for those who post questions to the list.
List is not for you. List is for us. If you ask a question, try to describe
your problem, so all of us learn something. If you suspect that your
questions might have been asked before and answered, please, search the
archives first and retrieve articles matching your query before you
ask the question. I know it is work, but look at it this way, if all of
us spend 1 minute on your question (just reading it), it will be 30 hours
of human time. If you send a query and look at answers, it will take
an hour or so. 

On the brighter note. In a week or so, we are changing our mailer in OSC.
It will mean much faster and reliable distribution. It also opens possibilities
for additional services (which I have developed, but withhold the announcement
until things are tested). Our archives will be modified and rearranged and
officially connected to Gopher. There will be some convulsions during
the transition, but I will probably stop the list for a few days to keep them
minimal.

So please. Before you post:
   1) read the help file and STICK TO THE RULES,
   2) check if the question has not been answered already by searching
      archives of CCL
   3) ask yourself if the topic is relevant to anybody. Even if it is not,
      you may post it, but make it at least interesting.

Your coordinator
Jan Labanowski
Ohio Supercomputer Center
jkl@ccl.net