In the interest of having the voting process be fair and above suspicion, I'd like it if people cast a vote on the web page (even those who have already sent in email votes, either to me or to the list). That way, it's not just my word about how many people emailed me with a vote.
Here's the page: http://www.egroups.com/surveys/vocalist-temporary?id=429877
You might have to cut and paste that. Or go to http://www.egroups.com/polls/vocalist-temporary and choose "Moderation - cast your vote."
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Also, I have taken the liberty of creating (just in case, and we don't have to use it) "vocalist-backstage" as another egroups message. This was one of the more successful innovations of Marko's, in which very off-topic threads were asked to take the discussion to the BACKSTAGE mailing list, which anyone could join at any time, and continue their discussions there. It siphoned the nonvocal stuff off of the main list, but people still continued their discussions.
Note: That means OFF-topic messages. Election thread would have been asked to move; pop vs. classical thread would NOT have.
To subscribe, send an email to vocalist-backstage-subscribe@egroups.com -- since vocalist-backstage-subscribe@egroups.com -- since there seems to be a good handful of regulars who love off-topic discussions, this might be a good way to keep the main Vocalist more on course, while neither censoring nor quashing the lively discussions that veer into the nonvocal.
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My personal favorite out of all the choices is to take on the "reminder" approach. Let's remind each other (privately at first) to stick to our knitting... whoops, wrong list. If someone doesn't heed the list guidelines and repeatedly goes against the list etiquette, that person might be put on moderation for a week or so. Obviously, having the moderation tool as an option is necessary (and always has been, on any mailing list), in case of one of those BYE NOW LOOSE WEIGHT spammers or someone who responds to 50 messages in a row with "**** you." It's never been implemented on this egroups version of Vocalist, but the quality of the list seems to be taking a downturn, so perhaps it's time.
Does anyone have the old Vocalist guidelines that Marko used to send out -- and can you send me a copy? They did have rules such as a) don't quote the entire digest in your post, b) don't send a dozen one-line messages every day, c) don't flame people. We can discuss and alter any of the guidelines we don't agree with.
Marko's "flame" moderation may have been a little restrictive -- there's a big difference between arguing about politics or abortion, and sharing what's happened in our personal lives. I remember feeling much richer as a member of the Vocalist community because of meaningful posts from people like Jocelyn, Carol (welcome back), Jess, and others. And I'm all for sex, and for Karen being young and feisty. I'm even all for those kids we used to get through the old list, talking about Britney and the Backstreet Boys -- maybe some of them stuck around long enough to be inspired to take a couple of voice lessons.
I'm NOT for personal insult-flinging, or the list being dominated by a handful of repeat posters (uh, except me... and I'm trying to curb it), or the content of the list being only 20% vocal and 80% other stuff. [Yes, Caio, language study is vocal, have no fear.] I'm not for the recent exodus of valuable members, of which Les is the most recent -- that's why this issue has come up; people are sick of it, and they're leaving our humble ranks in alarming numbers.
In sum: Gimme a copy of the Vocalist netiquette, keep voting on the web page, let's think about whether we want to use vocalist-backstage, and go practice!
Isabelle B.
===== Isabelle Bracamonte San Francisco, CA ibracamonte@y... ibracamonte@y...
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