[Harp-L] Jokes or the attempts at

[owner-harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx]

o Posting  -  Do you have anything to say?

   It is always tempting to reply to any given message with some witty
   remark, or off-topic comment.  This is OK on small / low-volume lists,
   but on a high-volume, large list it can rapidly become a problem of
   epidemic scale.  Please keep these exchanges as person-to-person e-mail,
   not through the list.  This doesn't mean you can't include the cute or
   humorous stuff in other messages with some harp related content, but
   let's not get carried away.

The text above drafted by someone far wiser than I is just a small part of
the posting guidelines of harp-l.  This particular thread is especially
distressing in its offtopicness because it's being used as a device for
sabotage of what I thought was one of the more promising attempts at a
serious discussion in a very long time.  No doubt every single person on
this list endures what for them is a pointless and or boring thread.  The
polite thing to do is simply ignore it and create your own on topic
discussion.  fjm harp-l-listowner