Every so often (during my limited experience of about 3 months on the
list) a debate flares up about what should be posted and what shouldn't,
or how things should or shouldn't be labelled, or what's spam and what
isn't. A lot of posing and posturing happens (and no, I don't mean I'm
above it; I'm doing it myself at the moment) and then eventually it
peters out, and the list goes back to being the same as it was, except
as changed by WW and his deputies.

Two things about these debates seem consistent.

1) Pushing the delete button would take a lot less time than writing a
gripe, reading responses to the gripe, writing responses to those
responses to the original gripe, people raising side issues not
connected to the original gripe and spamming on those under the original
heading, etc.  (Yes, I've done all these things myself; again, I don't
claim I'm better than anyone else.)

2) The more time is spent on these debates that don't change anything,
the less time is spent on writing fics and c&c'ing the fics of others. I
wasted an hour this morning writing spam about one of these
unresolveable arguments, spam that I wound up deleting unposted because
I realized what I had written was futile. I could have been working on
fiction, or reading some of the backlogged fics I have and commenting on
them, but I allowed myself to be distracted by something I couldn't
change. (That's what I'm doing now also, fool that I am.) Based on the
comments I'm reading, I doubt I'm the only one who has wasted time with
all these pointless debates.

I _have_ deleted almost all of the recent spams unread; I only read them
when someone whose opinions interest me posts, to see what that person
is up to. I don't mind deleting; what I do mind, however, is knowing
that so much fiction isn't being read or replied to, and spam debates
are a possible cause of that fiction being ignored.

Let's not spam on this. If you don't agree with me, ignore me.  If you
do agree with me, join me in trying to do more writing and c&c.

Best wishes to everyone,

DRM, 
author of the upcoming Ranma story, "Who is frustrating the great chefs
of Europe?" If you like the original Ranma stories, you might like this
one, so please make plans to read it when it appears. Prereaders and all
major credit cards accepted.

-- 
My signature file, attending all mails:

Neither titles nor eloquence do we require, he said, nor an insidious
tongue
nor familiarity with saffron myths on painted scrolls, but patience to
disengage difficulties until matters disclose their essence without
opposition, because the most subtle understanding outweighs mountains.
          -- from Evan S. Connell, _The Alchymist's Journal_