[TowerTalk] Re: Towertalk topics - long but of interest to TowerTalkians

[K7LXC@aol.com]

In a message dated 97-08-07 11:03:45 EDT, js@netusa.net (Jeff Singer) writes:

> I have seen the emergence of K2JAS (Roger Elowitz)-type postings as
>  becoming the accepted art form on Towertalk. I must add that Roger is a
>  VERY nice person, and I mean no harm whatsoever to him. However, he has
>  wrangled a large group of humorists who revel in offering up totally
>  useless postings about absolutely nothing. And while these "April Fool"
>  postings continue to proliferate without intervention from you, I feel
>  the reflector is moving in a direction I no longer have an interest in
>  (with a message today even suggesting that "everyday should be April
>  Fool Day,").
>  
>  Mind you, I don't mind some humor from time to time. It's good for all
>  of us. As part of the natural comaradic intercourse that exists in
>  forums of this type. But, in my opinion, HUMOR shouldn't be the FOCUS of
>  a "TOWERTALK" reflector. There are other forums for this type of
>  expression, such as alt.joke or alt. humor and others that feed upon
>  this type of foolery.
>  
>  I think most of us have a good sense of humor. After all, the majority
>  of us are probably contesters and tower owners (although, ironically, 
>  K2JAS owns no tower and does not aspire to), and you can't contest - or
>  own towers, for that matter - without having some sense of humor! But in
>  the last few weeks there have been more posts about "balanced coax" and
>  the "value" of humorous stories than tower/antenna/amateur radio related
>  stuff. And really, Steve, that's what I'm there for. For me, it's kind
>  of like going to a radio club meeting, but the guy sitting next to you
>  just cannot stop telling jokes, defending his position by insisting that
>  humor is good for all of us. Almost evangelistically. I'm sure you've
>  been there.
>  
>  And the rub is, when the discussion came up about the truly poor
>  customer service posture of Texas Towers, you threatened to actually
>  "throw us off the reflector" if we didn't immediately stop, (and this
>  after only four or five posts) though these were not your actual words.
>  And this was definitely a tower related issue.
>  
>  The fact is, that particular discussion was very productive, as it lead
>  to an acknowledgement from Gerald (in personal emails as well as
>  publicly)that his attention to customer service and related systems DID
>  need a looking at, and would be improved, starting immediately. Gerald
>  is a gentleman, and he understood what was going on. The result is that
>  TT will probably see more business from those of us who had actually
>  stopped buying from him; this helped us, the buyers, and him, too.
>  
>  My feeling at the time was that you probably had some personal
>  relationship with Texas Towers, and that's fine, no big deal.
>  
>  But why are you letting these totally ridiculous humor posts persist,
>  when they have absolutely nothing to do with towers or radio?? It is
>  almost impossible to find any actual related posts these days, due to
>  the enormous influx of the humor posts. Again, I don't mind a bit of
>  humor. But these are "great" essay-like compositions crafted for the
>  purpose of seeking acknowledgement and applause from an audience of
>  fellow humorists, followed by endless issuings of ascii applause from
>  that waiting audience ("Okay, step right up to the podium, who's
>  next?"). These guys should take their "works" (as they like to call
>  them) to an appropriate medium - and free up the Amateur Radio TowerTalk
>  Reflector!
>  
>  I needed to get this off my chest. Thanks for listening, and thanks for
>  always generously sharing your wealth of knowledge with the amateur
>  community at large.
>  
Hi, Jeff --

     Thank you for the above post and your thoughtful input on recent
TowerTalk topics. 

     The humorous threads seem to have taken on a life of their own. I also
enjoy the humor and don't mind occasional levity. Lord knows that we could
all lighten up once in awhile. But you're right - they're far afield from
what the purpose of TowerTalk is; that is, tower and HF antenna topics. There
was definitely an increase in traffic during this episode; whether it was a
good use of TowerTalk bandwidth is the question. 

     Before TowerTalk, these tower and antenna topics were primarily on the
CQ-Contest reflector where, while they were interesting and informative, were
not available to anyone that wasn't interested in the contesting discussions.
About a year ago, Bill, W4AN, was nice enough to sponsor, setup and let us
use his server for a dedicated tower reflector. The response and
participation IMO has been wildly successful. With over 1100 subscribers, it
has taken on a life of its own and does provide a forum of valuable
information and resource for the ham community. In other words, it evolved.

    It is my feeling that perhaps there are enough people who have enjoyed
and participated in the recent humorous postings that maybe it's time for
hamlaughs@contesting.com or something similar. I'd sign up for a humorous
reflector. I mentioned this to the infamous K2JAS and he said that he wasn't
interested in getting involved. Is there someone else who would be willing to
administer it? It's not really that big of a job.

    Actually there already is a rant and rave reflector that Lyndon has had
running for a year or two. Why don't we just move over there? It's the
14313@ve7tcp.ampr.org reflector and is hardly used at all. There are already
humorous postings from Marvin the paranoid android. I'll check with Lyndon
but it really is underutilized.

    Another example is the Boring Amateur Radio Club. It has a BARC reflector
and those boys can sure pull a leg or two. Perhaps Tree could help us.

    I didn't jump in because everyone seemed to be having a good time. As far
as the Texas Towers incident, the postings had more to do with spleen venting
and slandering a commercial enterprise. No, I do not any personal interest in
Texas Towers and, yes, it really turned out to be a win for everyone when
Gerald joined TowerTalk; he was able to explain his side of the story and
actually make some positive changes. 

    I'll check into the possibility of getting a home for anyone interested
in this new area of interest and let everyone one know what I find. Until
then, let's get back to getting them up and keeping them up!

73,  Steve  K7LXC

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