[Theforum] lightbulbs & online communities

[Miriam Frost]

This just came in on SIGIA-l, and it's not inappropriate.....





I recently saw this funny post on another listserv and thought y'all might
enjoy it.  It's originally from a 1998 post
on HRNet.

Light Bulbs on the Internet

How many people does it take to change a light bulb in cyberspace?

1 to successfully change the light bulb and to post to the mail list
that the light bulb has been changed.

14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the
light bulb could have been changed differently.

7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs.

27 to point out spelling/grammar errors in posts about changing light
bulbs.

53 to flame the spell checkers.

156 to write to the list administrator complaining about the light bulb
discussion and its inappropriateness to this mail list.

41 to correct spelling in the spelling/grammar flames.

109 to post that this list is not about light bulbs and to please take
this email exchange to alt.lite.bulb.

203 to demand that cross posting to alt.grammar, alt.spelling and
alt.punctuation about changing light bulbs be stopped.

111 to defend the posting to this list, saying that, "We are all using
light bulbs and therefore the posts **are** relevant to this list."

306 to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where to
buy the best light bulbs, what brands of light bulb work best for this
technique, and what brands are faulty.

27 to post URLs where one can see examples of different light bulbs.

14 to post that the URLs were posted incorrectly and to post corrected
URLs.

3 to post about links they found from the URLs that are relevant to this
list, which makes light bulbs relevant to this list.

33 to collate all posts to date, then quote them including all headers
and footers, and then add "Me Too."

12 to post to the list that they are unsubscribing because they cannot
handle the light bulb controversy.

19 to quote the "Me Too's" to say, "Me Three."

4 to suggest that posters request the light bulb FAQ.

1 to propose new alt.change.lite.bulb newsgroup.

47 to say that this is just what this list was meant for, leave it here.

143 votes for a new list alt.lite.bulb.

38 votes proclaiming the advantages in using vintage light bulbs.