Subject: SC - Disappointed

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Hullo, Aethelwulf! 

> Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 13:52:01 PDT
> From: "bill mayfield" <wpmay at hotmail.com>
> Subject: SC - Disappointed
> 
>    To say I am disappointed is a fair assesment,
>     I gladly joined this list in order to learn
>      about period food and cooking.I easily
>     made it known what i was seeking and not
>     one msg. or missive of welcome was seen.

As has been mentioned, you may have signed on at the same time as
several others and gotten lost in the flurry. Normally most people who
sign on and let us know they're out there receive very pleasant
welcomes, sometimes even from people that know them. On the other hand,
the fact that somebody doesn't receive a warm spoken or written welcome
doesn't mean they're not valued or respected. What it does mean is that
a phenomenon is occurring that is similar to entering a room full of
people you don't know, and at that particular moment all of them are
kinda busy, and maybe not good at matching names and faces without
repeated exposure. Nonetheless, eventually people will figure out who
you are, and you them. I don't recall receiving an especially warm
welcome when I joined the cook's list, when it was perhaps a day old,
maybe less. I entered a discussion on saracen sauce, and it was fun, but
nobody stopped and took the time to indoctrinate me in any way I can
recall, and I had no problem with that. It's a listserv, fer Heaven's
sake. If I had a question I asked it, if I had an answer I gave it. If I
really thought a subject needed to be changed I either said so or
introduced a new one that I thought might be more interesting.
 
>     to say that i now view this list as elitist,
>      un-welcoming and cold IS an accurate statement.

Only you would be able to accurately say what your view is, but most
people who gave the list a chance probably wouldn't agree with  that estimation.

>     After viewing todays posts and seeing baron siggy
>      starting up the"silliness" he so loves to spread
>     about on other lists i decided that this place is
>      of no possible help to myself or to what i choose
>      to pursue and that pursuit is to learn about
>     period food,period cooking,food preperation and
>      all things related to further the art in my fair
>     kingdom and to help others as others have helped me.

You know, I'll go out on a limb here and say I occasionally find myself
too busy to deal with Baron Siggy's "silliness" myself. I'm sure I
irritate the hell out of some people on this list occasionally, too, and
it might even seem worse to a new person who sees me presuming on the
camaraderie I share with the other list members. My apologies to all,
especially the esteemed Siggy, for my bluntness, _but_ I don't see how
the occasional bit of obvious nonsense hurts the list's stated goals too
much. We do have stated topic guidelines and most of us are pretty
considerate about sticking to them, but we may occasionally need a
gentle reminder from our Evil List Administrator.

So Aethelwulf, what, specifically, would you prefer to talk about? I
don't mean any disrespect, please understand. I've just found that the
best way to bring a roomful of people around to the topic of what
_you'd_ like to talk about is to bring up the subject in question. It
may not eliminate all the background noise, but usually people can get
answers to questions or comments on almost anything a genuinely
interested person cares to name. Maybe you should give this a try. I'm
sorry if we haven't met your expectations, but then I'm still not
entirely sure what they are, since I almost expect we're talking about
different lists, if the cooks' list you mean is a cold, unwelcoming list
that doesn't talk about period food.

Adamantius, who's never been in a cold kitchen
Østgardr, East 
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com