[ale] Lower cost hosting for ALE

[Jerald Sheets]

> On Dec 19, 2018, at 8:17 AM, Jim Kinney via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> And, yes, the latest squabble on the list impacted the decision to throw in the towel. 20 years on this list and a small-scale flame war is the last straw for my participation in ale life support. I used to step in and privately contact people to request better online behavior and respect for others. If that failed, I would urge the combatants to be silent or be gone. If that failed, I unsubscribed them with notice. 
> 
> When I volunteered to run the hosting (over a decade ago!?!), ale had 1600+ subscribers. One individual joined and was such an abrasive person that 1200 people unsubscribed over 3-4 months. The normal unsubscribe rate was 5-10 people a year. In hindsight, I should have been more forceful earlier at squashing the abrasive personalities.
> 

The reason many of us (I’ve had conversations) don’t participate all that much is precisely the stupidity you’ve seen on the list this week.

I’ve pared back my involvement to keeping the -jobs list spam-free, interjecting a helpful hint or tip as I think of it, trying to help others or asking for help, and pretty much otherwise staying the heck off this list.

If some folks can’t help acting like morons, then I really don’t care to interact with (or help) them in any case.


I’ve said for years there needs to be “another place”™ where people can bitch and moan at each other while the main ALE list is moderated and policed, and have been shot down each time in favor of maintaining the status-quo cesspool.  If we can’t act like grown ups, expect to be treated like little kids.  My 5 year old knows better… why don’t some of the “adults” on this list?


Whatever happens, MANY THANKS to Jim for all his hard work over the years.

cheers.

—jms