If Chuck's point is that content should be the determining factor here, I am in total agreement... while some messages are on-topic but topical in nature (ebay outings, parting-out debates, ride announcements or ride reports, announcements of bike photo postings, etc.), other messages that contain useful, concrete and lasting information should perhaps be exempted from the four-message rule. For example, if someone were to ask for the start to end date of production of the Herse Demontable, a question that probably only a few are in a position to answer accurately, the response should definitely be made on-list so that the material will be shared with the group and will make it into the archive for future reference. Answering off-list because one is over the message limit is really a disservice to the group at large. But I suppose the conscientious poster could just wait until after midnight to respond...
In any case, I hope anyone with a juicy question who receives an off-list response from a 'fouled-out' respondent will go ahead and share it with the rest of us.
I am amazed at how much useful, interesting, or at the very least entertaining information passes thru this list. I am not a person who has a lot of free time on my hands but it is very seldom that I do not read each and every message on a given day and it is even more seldom that I feel I have made less than constructive use of my time in doing so.
Bob Hovey Columbus, GA
In a message dated 1/9/05 9:18:26 PM, classicrendezvous-request@bikelist.org writes:
> Guilty as charged!!!
>
> I went back to the archives (they only go back to Aug '00; the list
> started the middle of '98) and it said 3,201 posts for me so I'm
> averaging 2.05 per day if my math is correct?
>
> Over the years I've repeated a little experiment where I didn't answer
> the questions for a week or so just to see if they'd get answered and
> mostly the answer was no. I've also answered a lot of them in private
> but that doesn't really help the group's knowledge base, but oh well.
>
> Discussion within limits? So be it!
>
> Chuck "one of my four bullets spent" Schmidt
> South Pasadena, Southern California