[pct-l] On Topic/Off Topic

[Wayne Kraft]

I don't know if you've noticed it or not, but this venerable e-mail  
list appears to be terminally ill.  Only bland posts relating to the  
PCT nuts and bolts (water here, none there;  saw so-and-so in Section  
E yesterday; can you buy Heet at El Cajon? etc.) seem to pass  
muster.  With this obvious exception, I've stopped posting to this  
list.  Even though I've been monitoring it for 3 years, I can't tell  
what is acceptable and what isn't.  Any humorous banter or  
controversial subject matter is subject to censure by the nattering  
nabobs of negativity.  Recently the topic of forest fires was banned  
on this list.  This is inconceivable to me.  I can't imagine a topic  
more relevant and pressing to anyone who hikes the PCT.  At the  
moment, I would say that the banter initiated by Reinhold and  
Switchback is about all that keeps this list alive.  Data is useful,  
a chuckle is priceless.

The email list format is just about deceased everywhere.  I think  
only the glory of the PCT itself and the vast personal store of  
knowledge possessed by some of the subscribers has kept this email  
list alive so late in the game.  The PCT, as a topic, could certainly  
support an internet discussion forum and a few rather lame attempts  
have been made to create such a resource in the past.  The only one  
with a half-decent format was created by a person whose contributions  
to this list have been so incessantly negative that apparently no one  
has any desire to participate.

What the PCT needs is something like this, but I haven't the  
technical expertise to create it:

http://portlandhikers.com/default.aspx

Wayne Kraft