Participation

["James Purchase" <jpurch@interlog.com>]

Folks,

I have just queried the majordomo software to determine the number of people
who are subscribed to the list. To preserve the privacy of everyone, I shall
_not_ be posting a list of e-mail addresses to the general list. I am not
breaching anyone's privacy in telling you that there are currently 27
individuals here.

When I compare the names and e-mail addresses of those who have shared their
ideas/opinions/thoughts with the group and have actively gotten involved in
the discussions with the actual list of names and e-mail addresses of all
members, I can see that the vast majority of you are playing "lurker".

I would like to remind everyone, _especially_ the "lurkers" that this list
was set up and you were invited to join, to allow you to participate in the
organization of something which can potentially benefit us all. It should
not be _solely_ my creation, nor the creation of a mere handful of people.
Everyone's input can be valuable.

A lot of words have been spilled over the idea of inclusion of as many
people as possible in this Contest/Showcase/Festival. That applies to the
organizational end of it just as much as it does to the entering of it. This
will only be as _good_ a contest as _you_ help make it. Nothing gets done if
_everyone_ sits on their hands.

That being said, I remind everyone to please stick to discussions of the
topics directly related to the organizing of the event and please address
those issues in the order which I suggest. This project is too big, and the
potential list of people to be heard too numerous, to allow for a
free-for-all. The result would be chaos and we would achieve nothing.

I am STILL waiting for the majority of you to submit your votes for your
choice of a name for this event. As I have previously stated, we can't move
forward until we put some things to bed.

Please feel free to get involved. I am doing this for _all_ of us. Please
help.

James Purchase
Toronto