[Alumni-chat] Making the Alumni Chat Readable and Worth Reading

[Michael Brower]

To my fellow Alums,

A month or two ago I quit trying to read the Alumni Chat Boards.  The  
last few days I have tried again, reading or skimming carefully all of  
the last 4-5
"Digests" each with 8-10-12 posts.  I have again, with great sadness,  
decided that the positive gains and learnings are outweighed by the  
negatives.
For me, the negatives are mainly:  1) very long postings, often  
apparently posted to help build the ego of a lonely Alum desperately  
seeking attention.
2) Postings filled with personal attacks and venom against other Alums  
and against postings from a different personal or political outlook.
3)  Postings which reply to the last posting, which was a reply to the  
prior one, which includes a dozen earlier postings.  So to read the  
latest posting, one is sucked into reading each of 5-10 prior postings.
4)  Postings which change the subject, but which do not bother to type  
in a new Subject line.

I wonder how many other Alums who might read and learn, and perhaps  
also sometimes post here, have been driven away, as I have, by any or  
all of these 4 habits?
I wonder if anyone still reading agrees with any of this?

So, once again, I will make a plea to all.  1)  Please think before  
writing, and while writing, and then edit carefully what we write to  
keep it short and concise.
2)  Please leave out all of the personal attacks and nasty cracks and  
vituperative comments.  Remember they a) bore the rest of us, b) bring  
discredit to the sender, and c) bring discredit to all of Antioch.  3)  
When answering prior posts, please eliminate all but the latest 1-2-3  
posts below your own new comments - keeping only those most relevant  
to the current answer.  And 4)  when changing the subject or topic,  
PLEASE change the Subject line.  5) And a 5th more personal  
preference:  I would love to see posts signed with the real name of  
the sender, not some snappy title hiding the real identify.  And I  
also like to see the year of leaving Antioch also posted.

Anyone agree?  Or disagree?

Thanks.  I will return again from time to time - with high hopes that  
these Boards get cleaned up and improved.

Mike Brower '55