[sumo] Running for President/Farewell

[Howard Gilbert]

If my response to the whole "Ramadi topic" on the SML is anything like 
the response you might receive from voters in a presidential campaign, 
then it will be a case of being ignored at the polls. :)

I must admit that I did not read a single one of the "Ramadi" topic 
given the overwhelming numbers of emails/opinions that I found clogging 
my inbox on Monday morning (my time). I decided from the get-go that 
the topic title and the number of responses meant that this was not 
something I wanted to wade through.

I appreciate your comments, Charles, about being proud of your 
accomplishments in serving your country and wanting to support those 
that do so currently in Iraq. I also support those that oppose the war 
in Iraq and see it as ill-advised and ill-fated. My point is that I do 
not think a mailing list dedicated to sumo should be swamped with 
political issues, even if acknowledged as "off-topic". I realise that 
we can't always talk about sumo and that there are interesting 
comments, points of view and information to be found in off-topic 
discussions. However, I find that the recent deluge has confirmed what 
I have been feeling for a while about the SML.

I find that I spend more time deleting SML messages of late than I do 
reading them. I would echo John Gunning's comments of the other day 
regarding the SML vs the Sumo Forum (particularly his comments about 
amateur sumo). Perhaps I am biased, as I was a Forum member slightly 
prior to becoming a list member, but I find the ability to have 
information compartmentalised on the forum far easier to deal with. I 
am not a sumo gamer, bar playing Guess the Kotomitsuki, so I can ignore 
a sub-forum rather than having to delete a whole bunch of messages. I 
can choose to read which topics I like and follow the discussion from 
members far more easily than having threads and replies coming in at 
all times in my inbox.

I also find that my reasons for reading the SML in addition to being 
part of the forum are now fewer; I really stayed on the list to gain 
knowledge from posters such as Joe Kuroda (now on the Forum), Katrina 
Watts (now a friend and contactable off-line) and Doreen Simmons. I 
will miss Doreen's snippets of information, but I find that I am 
exposed to many other wonderful sources of information on the Sumo 
Forum.

I'd like to thank the Sumo Mailing List for the information over the 
years, and I wish it (and all of you) well in the future.

Kind regards,
Howard


Quoting Charles Beauchamp <beauking1 at yahoo.com>:

> Thus far only one dissenting list member has saw fit
> to say anything to me about my rant yesterday.  Heh.
> MAYBE I SHOULD RUN FOR PRESIDENT!!!  <G>
>


-----------------------------------------------------------------------
This mail sent through University of Auckland http://www.auckland.ac.nz