<In mail Timothy C. May said:>
Some fine work is being done, both by those who are posting here and by those who are apparently holding their counsel for the time being. But the crumb bum posts are definitely winning out.
To be sure, posts by the stronger posters--who I won't name now--can still generate significant debate, but not nearly as well as the inflammatory posts can. (Part of this is predictable: the stronger posts are often technically deeper, meaning that more of the reading population feels unable to add signicantly.)
Tim, You are right about the excess fluff on the list, of course. I also think a very good explanation is what you and another poster have mentioned about the "masses" being or feeling unable to contribute to such a technical matter. Everyone can respond to a jerk though. There are three points I'd like to make: 1. The technical posters should strive to talk to the masses and not each other. It's the same old catch 22 of "The professor has a PhD and knows his stuff, but he can't talk to students on their level." Why not set up a tutorial posting where someone who intimately understands crypt tries to explain some of the basics to those of us who are along for the ride instead of studying for the Grand Master of the Universe Degree in Cryptography and Math. Perhaps your "golden oldie" idea is a step in the right direction. Of course, this assumes the techies are mostly interested in helping newbies become techies. If their intention is to send info back and forth among themselves please tell us so we can look elsewhere for instructional help. 2. Many people on the list are time-challenged :) A short post from J.Random Jerk is much easier to read than a 5 page eloquent speach from you which, although it contains very good information, is difficult to "hang with". Some of the more knowlegable people here have a tendency to ramble and make their postings flowery and they lose us normal folks that want to read "just the good stuff". 3. We are human and it is human, or at least societally inborn, to argue back when insulted. We all have to continually remind ourselves to ignore the jerks and not jump back. If everyone ignores them they will go away. (as an aside: Nalbandian isn't some punk kid! He's an older person in his mid 50's. It's a shame to see someone who has that many years of experience to act that way, but they do sometimes and we just have to learn to ignore them all. << Yes, Tim, I know I am among the worst flamers here sometimes, but I'm trying >> ) Please don't take this as an insult. It is only meant as MY OPINION of what's "wrong" with the list and what could be improved. Take care Jim -- Tantalus Inc. Jim Sewell Amateur Radio: KD4CKQ P.O. Box 2310 Programmer Internet: jims@mpgn.com Key West, FL 33045 C-Unix-PC Compu$erve: 71061,1027 (305)293-8100 PGP via email on request. 1K-bit Fingerprint: 8E 14 68 90 37 87 EF B3 C4 CF CD 9A 3E F9 4A 73