Lots of suggestions out there about how to avoid that sense of "So many
messages, so little time." Somehow, though, they all sound like going to
the finance company and consolidating all of those monthly bills into one
whacking great loan with a single monthly payment. Anybody ever save any
money that way? I did unsubscribe to BIRDCHAT after a short essay a year or
more ago due to imminent virtual suffocation. I would hate to have to do
the same with TWEETERS, but frankly, it's getting almost to that point.
Maybe we need a system of giving everybody a weekly allowance of so many
free bytes and then you're cut off? Garrulous individuals who used up their
allotments might be able to earn some more free bandwidth by charging
subscribers to read their posts, or buying credits (like sulphur dioxide
emission allowances) from more reticent subscribers. Otherwise they'd have
to pay to post, as in vanity publishing. Other solutions could include
juried postings (in which case we'd find out about rare birds 18 to 36
months after they'd left the region) and advertising (Kowa or Coca Cola
would have to sponsor your post). Yet another might include returning
unwanted messages to the sender with the electronic equivalent of postage
due.... Capitalist society, though, is going to prefer voluntary restraints
over regulation, which leaves us with "Know When to Say No" as our last best
hope. With that in mind, so long for at least two weeks!

Hal Opperman
halop at continuum.com