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