With 983 subscribers as of this morning's digest (wow, Bill -- it won't
be long before the number of subscribers will exceed the volume number!),
I'm not surprised at the length of the FML these days.  I understand that
not everyone can keep up, but I think the FML is fine the way it is,
length and all.
 
If we cut the "cute" stories, we'll end up tipping the balance so far out
of plumb that all new subscribers will think ferrets are sick *all* the
time -- something we already here occasionally!  (To the person who asked
a day or so ago if cancer really is so common in ferrets -- keep in mind
that you're seeing a skewed sample -- we definitely tend to talk more
about medical problems simply because we are all learning and trying to
gather as much info as we can -- for most of us, that's why we subscribe).
 
Not to show my decrepitude or anything ;-) but this list hovered around
200 subscribers for the LONGEST time, it seemed as though we all knew
each other, the FML came out, oh, maybe once or twice a week.  We hit
critical mass maybe a year and a half ago, or so (Bill, Chris, Suki,
Nancy, do you remember?) when it started coming out daily.
[It started coming out almost daily in mid 1993 - BIG]
 
Seems like only yesterday we were celebrating hitting 1,000 issues -- now
we're about to hit 1,000 subscribers!  Wow...
 
Anyway, I can't always read the FML daily anymore but I think the length
is OK for now.  I just don't see how it could be trimmed without much
more work on Bill's part, and he's got enough to do!
 
---------------------
Katie, Jeff, Andy, Bandit, Molly, Charlie, Pogo & Sigmund
[Posted in FML issue 1156]