From: callison@kittyhawk.ecn.uoknor.edu (James P. Callison)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Re: the spirit of rec.guns
Date: 22 Jan 93 14:08:15 GMT
Organization: Engineering Computer Network, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA

In article <9301210053.AA12733@scorpio.ic.cmc.ca> keith@scorpio.ic.cmc.ca (Keith de Solla) writes:
#Good points.

Agreed.

#I've been thinking, can we start calling 'assault rifles' something
#better, such as 'service rifles'.  That is what they are, after all.
#Yes, its fun to type 'Evil Assault Rifle {tm}', (I do it), but we
#may not be helping our cause.

I prefer EvilBabyKillingForeignAssaultRiflesFromHell(tm) myself. ;-)

On a serious note, while we're examining rec.guns and its spirit (and,
of course, thanking the Moderator for the fine job he is doing), I'd
like to propose a little bit of organization. (What?! The hell, you say!
Organization?! Crucify him! Heretic!)
We currently have two major areas of interest here: reloading, and 
everything else. Yeah, there are other threads (like SIG vs. Glock)
which pop up every now and then, but the reloading questions seem
to maintain a steady undercurrent. Of course, this may just be my
perception, but I do think it's true.
I'd like to propose some kind of organization for rec.guns. My suggestion 
is that we use Subject: line keywords, like [RELOAD RIFLE] or [RELOAD] or
somesuch. This would tend to ease the Moderator's job somewhat; the
reloading threads tend to stay more towards the technical end and
on the subject--ie, they _normally_ stay well within the bounds of
the charter--while a thread on home defense comes closer to the
funny farm's (t.p.g) purview than our own. That means that messages can 
be batched together and, with the more technical (safe) given
a more cursory examination, while the tightrope walkers can be given
more attention.  It also makes it easier to find the reloading 
articles/questions, for those of us reloaders who aren't so fortunate 
to work at a University with lotsa time on our hands. (That's a joke; 
check out my .sig file. :-) 
The headers will also help those r.g readers who really don't care
about a subject; a simple /reload/j command in rn will dispose of
the reloading articles, or a simple /reload/s reload.doc will save
all of them to files for future perusal.

Any comments/ideas? Is it worth the effort? Whaddya tink, youse guys?

(This should definitely not be taken as a slight towards the Moderator;
it's simply a time-saver for all concerned. Jim, I hope that everybody
out there realizes just how good you actually are, and that everybody
appreciates your work as much as I do.)

(And later I edits:)
To get this project off the ground, with Jim's blessing, I have volunteered
to collect and collate potential keywords. If you have any suggestions
for keywords, send them to me at
		callison@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu
and I'll add them to the "potentials" list.
The initial list follows:
RELOAD		REVIEW		HOME DEFENSE 		CCW/CWP
QUESTION 	PISTOLS		REVOLVERS		NFA/FULL-AUTO
RIFLE		SHOTGUN		MILITARY WEAPONS	AMMUNITION/AMMO
ARMOR		DEFENSE GUNS	DEFENSE AMMO		COMPETITION-RIFLE
BOWS/CROSSBOWS	GUNSMITHING	LEGISLATION		COMPETITION-PISTOL
TACTICS		FFL		SUPPLIES/SUPPLIERS	RUGER-BASHING

OK, so, maybe RUGER-BASHING is a wee bit outside the charter. :-)

We'll also need to come up with some sort of categorization scheme for
this, and I'll coordinate this as well. If you'd like to help set this
thing up, send me a message, and I'll add you to the mailing list...


				James

James P. Callison       Microcomputer Coordinator        OU Law Library 
Callison@aardvark.ucs.uoknor.edu   /\    Callison@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu
	constellation!biglaw!callison@mailhost.ecn.uoknor.edu
DISCLAIMER: I'm not an engineer, but I play one at work...
	"God didn't make men and women equal. Colonel Colt did."
			--Maggie Zombro, "Reasonable Doubts"

	[MODERATOR:  This seems reasonable to me ... it doesn't exclude
	 posts that don't happen to use the convention, but lets the
	 regulars here streamline their discussion. Please note, however,
	 I will continue to encourage people to at least peruse *all* the
	 notes ... I think its important for our culture for us to be
	 very aware of these many topics of interest.  There is that great
	 quote, of course, about hanging together else surely hanging
	 separately....   There are only two things I will ask further:
	 first, that nobody sue the moderator if someone gets a note out
	 under a different topic label (i.e., this is a user owned and
	 operated convention....), and second that we apply the KISS 
	 principle (James, its a LONG list.... :-) ]