On Thu, 19 Feb 2004 16:33:36 -0500, T. Early wrote:


"Gerald Pine" wrote in message
news
I'm not pointing fingers at any particular person, but am I alone in
being
bothered by the numerous political posts and downright rudeness that
seems
to be becoming more frequent here? Wouldn't we have a more
enjoyable
experience if we kept to the subject of the group?

To answer the direct question, probably yes.

But I just checked several hundred of the more recent posts on this
group and relatively few are on purely political topics. That's not
bad considering the hobby seems to attract individuals with strong
political views.

There have been times when the group was unreadable, but I don't think
that this is one of them, nor do I think all "political" topics can be
completely banned from a shortwave group when the listening experience
is often political in nature. Are we to say, for example, that
discussion of the overt politicization of the BBC is inappropriate?

I appreciate the responses, and yes I do realize that I'm not adding much
to the subject of the group by even raising the issue. You are correct
that it isn't near the point of making the news group unreadable. Perhaps
Maximus made the best suggestion. If people just keep it civil, that
would be a good thing. I certainly don't suggest any type of censorship
except self censorship. The freedom of expression is one of the things
that makes usenet so great. I just think that some posts (my own
included) could benefit by letting them sit for a day or two. In any
case, enough. I made my point and I'll stop adding clutter until I have
an on-subject post.