On Wednesday, 10, 2002, at 09:50AM, Richard M Sachs <richardsachs@juno.com> wrote:
>there are 700 subscribers,
>there are 30-40 regulars, and these guys regularly post
>about the same old stuff.
>how can we change that?
I sure hope so. I see a lot of questions that go unanswered, I don't think because no one knows but because nobody wants to guess. Very rarely does anyone take a guess on this list since it's full of "experts" giving "expert" answers. I also think this keeps the non-experts from posting to the list. I have to say from experience that when you do post guesses people have a tendency to go for the throat and not really try to educate. Everyone here is a student and we're always learning. Learning is all about asking questions and having them cordially answered; if you don't ask questions you don't learn.
Over the last few years I learned a lot, but it's nothing like how much I learned talking to customers in shops. Most of the group's knowledge base comes from the core-40 posters and this really limits the information base. It sounds like a lot of people, but it really isn't. It's like writing a book with only 40 similar sources. My wife is writing a Ph.D. dissertation on a Dutch renaissance artist named Hans Memling. She is using thousands of sources on a wide variety of subjects to isolate information on one artist. I've talked to thousands of people over the years and I still have A LOT to learn.
How can we change things. . . . ask questions and take guesses. Even if you know the answers ask a question that might stir some debate on the list. Who knows you might learn something new. We've all heard snippets of information and gossip. Post it and fill the gaps and learn the truth from fiction. Don't worry about appearing as an "expert", worry about learning something new. Being 33 I haven't lived through much of the "classic" era so learning is all through questions and research. I'll keep asking questions and taking guesses no mater how many people might think I'm an idiot or ass, because I want to keep learning. Do you want to learn is the question you need to ask yourself. Ciao, Brandon"monkeyman"Ives Not an "expert" in Santa Barbara, CA.