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Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

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  • From: "Greg Miller" <gsmiller@cet.com>
  • To: nafex@egroups.com
  • Subject: [nafex] Non-members: JOIN or NOT JOIN?
  • Date: Sat, 9 Dec 2000 21:56:42 -0800

It helps to have a sense of humor to post a comment about how
well the current method of subscription works, only to have that
premise shaken by a subsequent line of discussion.

If there was any question about the genie being out of the bottle,
having directions to the list published in Johnnys Seeds should
pretty much answer the question. (We usually order something in
Johnnys, and I have nothing against them. But it doesn't strike me
as being obviously related to the promotion of uncommon nuts and
fruits.)

I guess it's a good time to get to get to the basic question, WHAT
DOES ANYONE BELONGING TO THE LIST OWE TO NAFEX? To
answer that question I think we have to look at what this list gains
from being associated with NAFEX. (For those who like the brief
version," joining NAFEX" is my answer--the longer version begins
now. <g>)

1. POMONA, the publication of NAFEX, helps direct people HERE
who have a common, SPECIALIZED interest in the cultivation and
utilization of uncommon varieties of fruits and nuts. If you want
general gardening information I have little doubt there are much
better sites; a web search will likely find tens of thousands sites
along those lines. (Maybe other people will even pick the same hit
you choose.)

2. Many of the people who are directed here as a result of NAFEX
have a tremendous wealth of experience, especially for specialty
questions. Put more succinctly, there are a lot of people on this list
who actually know what they are talking about (at least when it
comes to fruit cultivation <g>). Anyone who gardens long enough
eventually experiences the revelation where you find out that
some of the axioms (repeated in article after article in much more
attractive magazines than POMONA) exist only to the extent that
someone else wrote them down somewhere at some time in the
past. (I have often wondered if there is a secret chain-letter for
gardening writers that threatens horrific consequences unless
"obvious" admonitions are passed along to their receptive
readers.) Compared to most other information on the internet
(misinformation?) the information here ranks high.

3. The Board of NAFEX has graciously, if implicitly, (at least up
until now) not taken the action of demanding that people prove
NAFEX membership before joining this list. There is a large
proportion of NAFEX membership NOT on this list also deserving of
the Board's attention. Without getting too self-important, to some
extent this email list has the potential to divert potential members
away from NAFEX membership. To the extent that lower
membership impacts content in POMONA, it could impact those
members who choose to stick with POMONA alone. And of more
interest to NAFEX members who frequent this list, open
membership makes the likelihood of drifting "off topic" more likely.

Obvioiusly the NAFEX Board (which I will add has the right to
speak for itself on any of these matters) can't prevent people of
like interest from associating in an email list or any other forum, but
it doesn't have to facilitate anything potentially destructive to it's
membership, either. Those who appreciate the current
membership policy of this list might consider supporting
CONTINUATION of that policy by joining NAFEX if the list is of
benefit to you. (Which raises the question, if it's not of benefit,
why are you wasting your valuable time here?)

There are actually one MUCH BETTER reason to belong to NAFEX
than this list alone. POMONA *really* is worth the price of
membership in my opinion. Not every article is a jewel, but when
an article does hit, it does so in a way that general comsumption
articles can't begin to approach. Person after person has noted
that they save back issues of POMONA (I do!), and it ain't for the
grand prose or compelling literary style. It's for the information. It's
truly one-of-a-kind.

I would invite non-members to join NAFEX. $15 a year isn't going to
be the deciding factor for anyone capable of owning the computer
and connection service required to read this message.

Greg Miller

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