ADMIN: An amusing/interesting note and my reply

[Ben Cohen]

Usually, when someone chooses to unsubscribe from the list, they just drop
off. One person chose to send me a message about why they were
unsubscribing. Since I was in "one of those moods", I chose to response. As
an amusement for everyone here, I include the original message (anonymized)
and my response:

>As moderator, I thought you might be interested in why I am
>unsubscribing to the BOC-L today.  My husband and I are big BOC fans
>and have seen them perform in excess of 50 times.  We listen to all their
>albums.  I subscribed because I thought I'd get some current info on their
>itinerary.  We are really interested in where and when they are playing.  It
>took me two weeks of research to find out who and what HAWKWIND is.
>>From what I could find out, it appears they are a British band who is riding
>the coat tails of BOC.  I am not interested in Hawkwind so I am
>unsubscribing.  Even though I tried to confine my subscription to BOC
>only, many of the numerous messages are about Hawkwind or other
>groups.  Unfortunately, I don't have the time to weed through all that.  It is
>too bad the real BOC fans couldn't stick to the subject.  I am only telling
>you this as a courtesy and not trying to upset or anger anyone.  I would
>appreciate it if you take my message the same way.  Good health to
>you.....

While I appreciate the comments, I'd like to make a couple of points about
the list:

1) Hawkwind is most definitely _not_ a "British band who is riding the coat
tails of BOC". They are merely another band that many of the subscribers
also enjoy listening to and that tends to have a thematically similar
musical content.

2) The original introduction to the list clearly points out that this is a
high-traffic mailing list with regular fluctuations as to content.

3) Many of the subscribers to this list _are_ "real BOC fans", but most of
us are sick-and-tired of the band deciding that the only thing they want to
do for the rest of their (and our) lives is tour the country, hitting small
clubs rather than actually getting into the studio and producing a new album.

4) If you wish to be a "drooling fan" (no insult intended), I recommend you
find the BOC group on AOL where the band (or at least selected members) tend
to hang out. In general, most of us on BOC-L are not appreciated there
because:
   a) We tend to listen to what Al Bouchard has to say about the way the
      band broke up and not feel the need to kow-tow to Eric whenever he
      bad-mouths the Bouchard borthers.
   b) We are unrepentant about telling the band that they should get their
      minds and instruments in gear and give _the fans_ a new album rather
      than continually recycling the same stuff they've been playing for the
      last 10+ years.

   Ben Cohen,
   Moderator, BOC-L