On Wed, 4 Apr 2001, Paul Russell wrote:

> On Tue, 3 Apr 2001, Winship <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> ...snip...
> > Amen.  I eschew "topics" like the plague.  If subscribers are
> > interested in the list the are interested in the *entire* list
> > or they are not really interested.
> ...snip...
>
> This is another of those "YMMV" situations. Most of our 3000+ lists
> do not use topics, however, some of our list owners apparently
> believe that topics make their lists more usable and useful.

Our list, Copyediting-l, is a much more pleasant place since we added
topics. Our 1,500+ subscribers consist of both editors working at busy
publishing companies, where they are surrounded by other like-minded
people, and freelancers working at home, who often are alone all day, with
no one to talk to. The former group prefers it when the list remains all
business; the latter group enjoys the off-topic tangents that we often
meander off on. Because the list mail tends to be heavy, topics allows
both groups to get what they want. Anything not strictly editing-related
goes under the CHAT tag. The busy subscribers filter CHAT, and everybody's
happy!

Jane