Figures and quotas

[Jean-Luc CHEVILLARD]

Dear Indologists,

this is a remark based on figures
and a (humble :-) plea to those concerned

I used to recommend the INDOLOGY discussion group
to my french colleagues (I even wrote a small note
to that effect in the BULLETIN D'ETUDES INDIENNES
in 1992, NO. 10). But over the years, I have found it
more and more difficult to give that advice
and even decided for myself
that it would be less time-consuming
to use the option:
  SET INDOLOGY NOMAIL
 (technically this message has to be sent to
   LISTSERV at LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK)

Whenever I feel like having a look at INDOLOGY
 I just check, for instance:

http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/cgi-shl/WA.EXE?A1=ind9901&L=indology&O=D&H=0&D=1&T=1
  (this is for january 99 ....)

Among the several possible reasons
for this change of opinion,
I wish to mention only one:
it is not good for a group to have people
use MORE THAN THEIR SHARE of "free speech": for instance,
there are 641 messages in the december archives,
but 148 among these come from one single person.
And the trend seems to be the same
in january (77 on a total of 359 at the time of writing).

This is not a comment on the content
(some messages can be quite interesting),
but rather a remark having to do with netiquette ...

I do not know what the ideal proportion is.
May be 1/20th (tamil mA) is a reasonable fraction:
**self-restraint should forbid anyone to send more
   than one message out of 20.**

May-be a kANi (tamil word for 1/80th) is even better. :-)

Any suggestions?

Best wishes to all

-- Jean-Luc CHEVILLARD