No, READ THIS! ;)

[Jim Wright]

Today has been an interesting day for the list.  I'm going to throw a
few things out and see where this takes us.

Last things first, today we've heard from old time members and newbies,
people that post often, and those we rarely hear from.  I think that
alone proves the power of this list and the community that we've built
up over the years.

I'm reminded of a few occasions where the list has come together as a
community in the past, September 11 comes to mind first, when we came
together in this virtual space to cry and grieve, to express our shock,
horror, and awe at the events of the day.  And to slowly get a new
perspective on our lives, and to heal.

Another event that comes to mind is the untimely passing of Matt Kempe,
a very personal tragedy for those of us on the list, and another time
when our community was really there to lean on.

There have also been the good times, the Convention reports, new Nissan
models, etc.  Topics meant to be covered by the list, and covered quite
well.

I'm hoping that Larry keeps this list going, I highly doubt that
there's anyone on this list that doesn't find some value in it, if they
didn't, they'd be gone.

Which brings me around to my main point.  Let's assume the list is
going to continue.  Now what?

Again, last thing first, se-r.net needs help.  I'd like to urge those
responsible for this site and its content to put out a call for
volunteers (as has happened in the past), and I'd like to urge anyone
with any skills to offer to help out with whatever you can.  Expanded
FAQs, more tech sections, etc.  The content is already in the archives
(ouch!) it just needs to be put in an easy to access format.

Next, those of us here also have some responsibilities too.  I know
we've all seen questions that go unanswered, and I'm sure many have had
questions of our own unanswered.  The list doesn't always see the
replies to these either, many conversations go private after a question
goes out.  I think it's great when folks post the answers that they've
found after the fact, I hope this continues.

The subject of rudeness has come up, I know this doesn't happen often,
but I'd like to urge folks to take this offline whenever possible.  As
much as someone deserves a public slap in the face for some public
comment of theirs, we really don't need this on the list.  I'm guilty
of this too, but you'd be surprised how many mails I write and never
end up sending.  ;)  Censor yourself, don't let someone do the job for
you.

For those posting with problems, it's been said before, and here it is
again, do some homework.  If you've searched and come up dry, let it be
known that you tried.  When you're trying to solve a problem, there's
no such thing as too many details.  Gather all the facts you have, what
you've tried, what you've done, anything that might be relevant.  One
extra bit of info might be enough for a light to go off in someone's
head and tie your problem to something they've experienced.  The answer
might be wrong, but it might lead you down the right path.

For those posting solutions, if there's a site that has this, post it.
Doesn't matter if it's a forum or someone's home page.  If you've
written it up and had it published in Sport Compact Car, tell them how
to order back issues.  ;)  If you're not sure, let the other person
know what info will help, even if you don't think you will have the
final answer.

For those in the gallery, speak up from time to time.  If you've got an
interesting project going, share the wealth.  Sometimes it's nice just
to see an old name pop up again.

I'll wrap this up, I've written enough for now.  Hopefully some things
to think about moving forward to help keep the list quality up where it
should be.