[EVA] to tangent or not to tangent?

[greg at ghost2138.org]

>And if you're using the lack of traffic in this ML as
>an excuse to go off on tangents about fan-fics and
>such, see the second part of that segment you quoted. 

Our of curiosity: how would fan-fics be considered 
off-topic? I could see getting into the intricacies of the 
plots, major analysis and whatnot could be distracting but 
I can't see how where it's gone so far can be seen as bad. 

The problem I've seen with tightly deliniated boards and 
mailing lists where everyone is scrupulously on-topic is 
that nothing much ever happens there. If we're talking 
about a serious, professional mailinmg list then that's 
great, keep the clutter down. But if we're talking about a 
for-fun list about something that's fun...don't people 
want discussion? I find some of the best discussions can 
skew off on a tangent quite a bit before coming around to 
topic. Maybe that's just me.