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Hello Rod, I think that the vast majority of the list members would agree with you - even I started out defending student contributions to this list. HOWEVER, there is a great deal of difference between open discussion of a particular sportmedicine topic and one-to-one dialogue that is completely unrelated to the purpose of SPORT-MED. No one sincerely wants college/university students to leave the list, only to use this tool in a manner that is reasonable and appropriate. The list was starting to resemble a chaotic chat-room rather than a forum for people with a genuine interest in sport medicine to communicate, share ideas, and expand intellectually. Having said that, I think that students can serve a vital role to helping us all better understand this field. They tend to ask questions and approach problems in unique and intriguing ways, they force us to challenge our current understanding, and they may ultimately help us to make a very necessary paradigm shift in the way we see a particular condition/treatment strategy/... etc. Of course, this presupposes that the student has actually gone to the library to do an initial literature search, actually READ some of the articles, and possibly has spoken with a faculty member before approaching the list members with a discussion topic. Unfortunately, I have seen little of such efforts from our student members. Instead, there has been a barrage of posts that should have been sent directly to the parties concerned. Neither do I consider messages such as "Hi, I'm interested in learning about knee injuries. Please send me any related information", to be particularly relevant. Sure, when we are new to something, we make mistakes. We step on toes. But we eventually get the hang of it and maybe even show true competence. I hope the students reading this post will eventually contribute to discussions. It's part of the learning process. I think that with term papers and other assignments due in the near future, this list would welcome inquiries related to gaining a greater understanding of the literature on a given topic. Hey, they may even get the chance to correspond directly with one or several of the authors! This lengthy message was not intended to be a rant about the recent history of the list, so I apologize if it carries strong overtones. I'm sure that many will agree that with time already at a premium, going through unnecessary postings can be a frustrating and unwelcome experience. However, I think that some students may be surprised at the positive response they may receive when approaching the list with a well thought out, structured query. I hope this helps to clarify the issue (as I see it, at least...) Best regards, John R. Gray, M.Sc. C.S.C.S. ----- Original Message ----- From: Rod Whiteley <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]>; <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 1999 10:28 PM Subject: Re: Misuse of the sport-med list. > G'Day all > Whilst it is definitely annoying getting dumb messages like "hi I'm a senior > at XYZ State U..." it's not a big deal to hit the delete button. At the risk > of potentially excluding someone, or some ideas as may happen in a moderated > list; I think we can put up with losing a little bandwidth. Remember we were > all newbies once (both to the internet and to sports medicine.) > Hope this hasn't offended anyone. > Rod Whiteley > > -- > Mitchell & Whiteley Physiotherapy. > > > %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%