[Publib] ...and the hydrox wars

[Christopher F. Bowen]

Ah... I was out of town for much of June and did a lot deleting without reading and so missed the Hydrox war controversy. Was there some sort of vote that humor is out of publib and only serious and to the point discussion was appropriate?

Sometimes I read publib for the info ideas and advise, and sometimes for the humor. I hope we are not dropping the fun completely! If this is too much off publibrarianship someone respond off list and tell what I missed please.

Christopher Bowen
Downers Grove Public Library

p.s. Try Trader Joe's chocolate and vanilla bean cookies -- a perfect H. copy!



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Message: 2
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:45:46 -0700 (PDT)
From: Joe Schallan <jschallan at yahoo.com>
Subject: [Publib] Topicality, the delete key, and the Hydrox Wars
To: Publib <publib at webjunction.org>
Message-ID: <690749.86141.qm at web59102.mail.re1.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Friends,

At the end of June we had a bit of list unpleasantness which I will call "The Hydrox Wars." (Makes a pretty good sounding SF novel title, eh?)

I've been thinking quite a bit about the issues raised at that time pertaining to humor, staying on topic, and inviting those who don't care for the humor to press their delete key. An assertion was made that a list subscriber shouldn't be asked to deal with off-topic material at all, since by Publib's own definition of itself, the material doesn't belong there.

I have concluded that there is merit in that argument.

If Publib were baseball, I suppose I would be the Babe Ruth of off-topicality, and the season leader in leaving good library topics on base and in overall off-topic percentage, as well as in driving clean, simple metaphors right into the ground.

Therefore I am moving my whimsical and curmudgeonical act over to my blog, where the six or seven of you who have enjoyed it in the past may now find it:

http://juralib.blogspot.com

In the meantime, I will continue seeing you all on Publib for strictly on-topic concerns.

I will try to freshen up my blog from time to time, but when it is gnawing at my ear, demanding the posting of new material when I'd rather be in the living room watching the Diamondbacks beating the tar out of the Dodgers, I may recycle some of my "classic" (an improbable label, I know) material from Publib including, yes, the three methods for keeping patrons from coming behind the reference desk to filch materials.

Cordially,

Joe Schallan
Phoenix