Floria.Antin@f304.n109.z1.fidonet.org (Floria Antin) (08/09/90)
Index Number: 9628 > If ever you have worked for several years in the support > industry, you get to realize that "support" is adding water > to a leaky bucket, just one teaspoon at a time. The history > I imagine that most people capable of contributing to this > conference in BIG WAYS -- have been put off by the volume of > small-time messages. I'm not saying that small-talk is > meaningless & worthless. But in the meantime, the effective > people do not have the time to way on the allocated > time-slot of the week, through all the hundreds of messages. Here there appears tobe a growth of support groups or self help groups. There is much to begainedby joining with others who have similarconcerns to yours. Some of these groups are part of larger organizati9ns while others are fairly small and local. It helps to bein touch withothers and realize that you are not alone. It is through suchgroups that at times quite a bit of progress has been made, and neededservices and legislation has occured. True some organiations may become impersonal, but they all don't. Also even ifthe group you belongtois part of a national organization you interact with people on the local level, not with all. There can be different groups within anorganization meeting diferent needs. Perhaps many of us who are part of the conference enjoy the small talk (else why would we spend our time) and it meets some of our needs. There is much tobe gained from such "small talk", it's people helping people. There is no reason if enough desired it nottoforma new echo for the "effective" people and not support small talk. Since I have been reading this echo Ihave seen other echos grow to meet specific needs such as the echo for the visually impaired. -- Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!109!304!Floria.Antin Internet: Floria.Antin@f304.n109.z1.fidonet.org