CCL: Reflection about the list

Dear CCL subscribers,
 Jan Labonowski's recent reply on the organization of replies
 to the list to my mind did not quite give a satisfactory
 explanation of why the list was set up as it was. If I may
 speak for him, the way it was supposed to work (and those of
 us who have been subscribers since before the list was begun
 know this) is:
 a. Someone asks a question
 b. Other subscribers send replies to the asker
 c. The asker sends a summary of answers/discussion to the
 list
 That way, all that subscribers would receive in their email
 > from CCL would be the questions AND the replies. Moreover
 the replies would be carefully prepared summaries which in
 principle would be _really_ helpful (e.g., 'I tried 7
 suggested solutions and the third one was the best').
 As it says on
 http://www.ccl.net/chemistry/aboutccl/instructions/index.shtml
 ,
 "if you ask a question, you should send a summary of the
 responses to the list, thus allowing others to learn along
 with you."
 One fundamental weakness of this plan is that, as others
 have pointed out in this thread, before the summary is
 posted one did not know if the question had already been
 addressed in a manner similar to how you were thinking of
 addressing it. But as it turned out, the major trouble with
 the previous setup was that people rarely posted the
 summaries. Thus the list became a list of questions rather
 than Q&A. So, don't think that Jan was so foolish as to set
 up a list for questions only...it just evolved that way
 because subscribers did not follow the rules of posting
 answers.
 As for the new instructions to post all replies to the list
 directly, it is a good idea except that it increases the
 traffic. As others have said, this will encourage those who
 have not already done so to set up their own filters of CCL
 mail. And by the way, I don't think Jan has yet released us
 > from the responsibility to post a summary!
 Best regards,
   Robert
 Professor Robert J. Doerksen
 University of Mississippi
 Department of Medicinal Chemistry
 421 Faser Hall
 University, MS  38677
 Office: 662-915-5880
 Fax: 662-915-5638
 Lab: 662-915-1853
 E-mail: rjd!at!olemiss.edu
 http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/pharmacy/medicinal_chemistry/doerksen.html