DISCLAIMER!! <> DISCLAIMER!! <> DISCLAIMER!! <> DISCLAIMER!!

Hey everybody! Before some folks get their hackles all up in a huff or
misconstrue the light hearted posting of "The Tweeters Hall of Flame" (*flame*
...not fame); PLEASE! This was a 100% good spirited attempt at a bit of humor
to perhaps way lay any hurt feelings and personal insults. Every word of it,
from start to finish. No one in any way should take anything in the post in
the vein as personal insult or attack. No one was being singled out and yet I
was poking fun at everyone including *myself*. And also most certainly this
was not in any way a shot fired at Tim Gronseth whose posting of the 'postings
list' to "the whole list", albeit having nothing to do with birds, rather just
a wild shot out of the blue, was quite funny, statistically interesting, and
enlightening as it kind of touched and had a certain sobering relevance to all
of us in the Tweeters family.

Rob Saecker, Hugh Jennings, Michael Price, Don Baccus, and others all made
very excellent points about posting replies to a thread. These should be read
as helpful *friendly* hints and good advice and not in any way to be taken
personally because we ARE after all, friends here, albeit for most of us, a
"league of never before or seldom ever seen friends" (to quote Dennis Paulson
& Michael Price). Some of you are new on computers, email, the internet, and
message boards, and 'Tweeters'. It's a pretty wild bizarre world to try and
keep pace with as you know! Your mail programs are different, some quite
confusing and difficult to master. Different listserv message boards have
different protocols for handling and addressing replies. There are all sorts
of pitfalls to overcome including the vague undefined rules of 'netiquette'
that one will never learn apart from just trial and error. And one never ever
quite figures it all out before something changes or something new comes
along. So, it's a constant learning and sharing process.

The comments about reposting entire messages when editing to conciseness for
comment is best and is quite legitimate. Long messages DO require one's
*time* even if measured in seconds, *time* to scroll through, and often most
of us don't really have that kind of time to waste or become irritated by
repeatedly scrolling through an unnecessary repeat of a long message. Mine
get to be horribly long sometimes, and I apologize to those who may feel
annoyed. Of course you can always skip over and delete them when you see; uh-
oh, it's "Pagodroma" coming along again, ...unless you get Tweeters in Digest
form, then you're screwed.

In this electronic medium, I think one has a tendency to become quite self
oriented when it is in all sincerity quite unintentional. I mean, it's just
"you" or "me" all alone with our thoughts and on our computers. In the end,
that's not at all so. You post, then suddenly you have just cast yourself into
the lives and time of 600+ others. Careful thought and consideration to other
members and *their* time is very important. Consider this: If you read
Tweeters in Digest form or at the Tweeters Email website, this means you don't
have the option to pick and choose and delete which messages you can read or
threads you wish to follow. You have to scroll through the whole thing. It
takes *time*. Also, long messages which often include so much unnecessary
repeat information from another poster takes up time and bandwidth resulting
in sometimes very long download times just to be able to read the digest.
There is nothing worse than sitting in front of your computer *waiting* for
something to happen, and worse when you find yourself thinking that much of it
wasn't worth the wait in the first place. If you are getting individual
Tweeters mail as they are posted, you would never even think to know the
difference. Shorter messages are often better than long ones -- advice I
should adhere *myself* to.

One more thing, then I'll shut up. Some interpersonal messages and exchanges
which have no relevance what-so-ever to the entire group should be handled
privately, like trip arrangements, and such. Tip: Before I post anywhere I
always look back and check exactly *where* an email or reply is addressed and
ask myself again if this is one I really want to send at all. This is one
reason why I maintain a draft file when trying out various ideas. At least
with America Online (AOL) as the email and online provider, this is made very
very simple. AOL is the most user friendly provider and easiest email program
in the business I think. It was created just for computer illiterates and
slow learners like myself. I stumble and bumble around very badly with every
other email program that I've ever tried out.

When addressing your message and if you don't really want an email reply going
to Tweeters and the whole list, then at the point & click of a mouse, I
select/delete Tweeters and copy/paste the more appropriate private address.
Anyway, so just think about what you are doing and put yourself in the minds
eye of 600+ other potential readers, and ask yourself, "Is what I am about to
post of likely shared interest and perhaps even relevant for everyone?" and
"is what I say (write) really how I want to convey myself to others?"
Sobering questions when you seriously stop to think about it. I did post
yesterday (Re: Twisp CBC...) to the whole group as a cc: tweeters, a message
that started out as a private message, but then thought that perhaps the item
about the finding wolf sign in the Okanagan's Methow and North Cascades might
be of general interest. If read by some as inappropriate, I apologize.

I hope this 'flame' thread doesn't send a bunch of you who have been kind of
poking your noses out a bit of late which is great to see btw, suddenly
scampering off into lurkerland or out of the loop altogether, or now prevent
others from chiming in from time to time. Some of you are lurkers and if that
best suits your purpose, that is perfectly fine. I certainly do my fair share
of lurking (nearly 100%) on other message boards and even on this one when I'm
away on estended field assignments for months on end. But for heavens sake,
don't let this little fire incinerate your spirit. For it is that spirit that
makes *this* forum so great.

NOW! I am going to *print out* my New Year's Resolutions and stick them up on
the wall in front of my face where they will likely be lost and forgotten for
the rest of the year along with those Cook's Petrel sighting records off
Oregon '-) BTW, I wonder who Mr. 'birder7 at yahoo.com (Tim Gronseth)' *really*
is anyway -- maybe a "Tweetsters" anonymous pseudoname, ...our beloved list
moderator and owner, Dan Victor maybe? I guess we may never know :-))

Richard Rowlett (Pagodroma at aol.com)
47.56N, 122.13W
(Seattle/Bellevue, WA USA)