Tacos Subject Lines (Lack of value)

[John Teller]

I am sorry I offered up something that didn't captivate your interest.  
The link was to a Linux based firewall/router that consumes very little 
in the way of system resources and runs happily on a 200 MHz Pentium.  I 
currently use an old PC that runs OpenBSD with pf.  It has been very 
reliable and secure, but must be maintained manually, which can be 
tiresome at times.

Plenty of fascinating things have been posted here, and a few that bored 
me to tears - but I have not complain about the latter. Many a "this is 
cute" link has lead me to some very interesting information, and that 
more than makes up for any perceived faults.  Perhaps if we instituted 
rigorous posting guidelines, then nothing of interest would be posted at 
all.  The impulse to share would be squashed out of fear of reprisal and 
censure.  If you want "value" - why not pay for it?  Sites like 
LexisNexis and the Wall Street Journal provide extremely dense and 
targeted information to their clientèle, but at a huge premium.

If what I'm interested in puts you to sleep that's fine - just add my 
address to your killfile, or have Maitland ban me from the list if 
that's the consensus here.

--- John Teller

Robert Bruninga wrote:
> Tacistas, Please, this is nothing personal at all, just an
> appeal...
>
> This tacos list is notorious for ambiguous posts with catchy
> subject lines but with no hints at all as to the real info or
> "value" contained.  These Tacos messages could be improved 100%
> if the -bottom-line- value-to-the-reader is included in the
> subject line.
>
> As it is, everyone  on the list has to follow the links, read
> the entire page and maybe then follow additional links to find
> out what the thing is all about.  
>
> On this one, [Re: A good use for an old PC and two NICs] all I
> find is a single board uP.  I see nothing in particular of
> interest to me (there are dozens of these out there) and I
> cannot find anything that makes sense to the subject line.
> Sure, I could invest another 5 minutes of my time to dig and dig
> and try to piece together what the sender was trying to convey,
> but I don't have that time...
>
> The AMRAD Tacos list is the worst list in this regard too.
> Subject lines like "Look at this".  "This is cute", "Wow, neat
> idea", and so forth are quite useless unless the intent is to
> waste and consume the maximum amount of time of all Tacos list
> members.  If it is "cute" say why it is cute so we have an idea
> what you have in mind and whether the link is worth following.
>
> I still don't see where the "good use for an old PC and two
> NICS" is on this page.  I'd have to read the entire fine print
> to find out... Rememebr, I can be pretty dense...
>
> Please. Put the "bottom line" in the subject line.  In this
> case, "what was the good use?" so that I can tell from the
> subject line if this message is worth reading and if the links
> and sub links are worth the time to follow.
>
> I made this complaint a year ago on Tacos, and was told by the
> poster that he does not have time to edit the subject line.
> Well, seems unfair then to place a greater burden of time on all
> of the rest of us to take even more time, multiplied by the
> number of people on this list to find out what the link is good
> for.?
>
> I guess we all get crodgedy as we get older.  Mine is showing..
>
> I think we need to remember that if we want people to share our
> interest and enthusiasm, then we need to take the extra 3
> seconds to write a subject line that is meaningful to the end
> user, who must evauate its content "out of the blue" in about
> 500 ms or delete it as another pig-in-a-poke...
>
> Just 2 cents on this sunny beautiful day...
>
> Bob, Wb4APR
>
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