Internet Communities and BMW people

The basis for the following was written by Steve Offiler in March 2011, and with his permission I have edited it quite a bit, adding my own words and interpretation.
Snowbum

There is a conventional wisdom that when you first you join a group, it is best to listen in on the conversations for up to as long as a couple of weeks before YOU begin contributing. This is known as "lurking" or "monitoring". This is legitimate eavesdropping, where you can observe the interactions between regular contributors and get a feel for those who post regularly and not-so-regularly. Jumping in too quickly might expose you to some rather strong personalities.

Monitoring the group traffic for a short while before posting will likely enable you to avoid, or at least understand, uncomfortable responses to your posting(s). You will quickly be able to determine who has real knowledge, who are the real experts, who is having a bad day (grumpy, cynical, curmudgeonly...etc.).

Here is some information that will be of help to you when working with the Airheads Mailing List (also called the Airlist).....which is airheads@micapeak.com. Some of the information is informative for many LISTS.

Airheads List Agreement
    This mailing list was created through the efforts of the Airheads Beemer Club and it is hoped that everyone who joins the list will also join the club. The purpose of the Airlist is to celebrate ownership of the BMW Boxers with Type 247 or earlier engines through fellowship, good cheer, and camaraderie by sharing Boxer technical info, product finds and reviews, questions, short-stories, trip reports, event and gathering info, and other riding and boxer related topics. It is not for spamming, flame wars, personal exchanges, etc...

    This list is intended to be a high content, low noise, and friendly place to post. Please read a few messages before posting so you get a feel for how it works. Only post messages that can benefit the group as a whole as opposed to just speaking to an individual. Please don't post idle chatter. If you have a message that only affects a few people then send it privately.

    Flame Wars, Name Calling, as well as deliberate postings of offlist private email and messages highly critical of other members will not be tolerated on the Airlist. When you post a message to the Airlist, we ask that you sign your post with at least part of your real name, include your general locality, and your Airhead number if you have one.

   When you reply to a message, reply after your quoted material and QUOTE JUST ENOUGH of the original post so that others can understand what you are talking about. TRIM OFF THE REST! Please do NOT insert 2 lines of reply above 100 lines of quoted material; this only irritates the rest of the readers.

Don't include photos or attachments; nor Quoted Printable option, nor colors, odd fonts or other fancy features. Only text is allowed. Anything other than PLAIN TEXT will be rejected by the Micapeak servers.

BMW people, if I might be allowed to generalize and stereotype for a moment, tend to be intelligent, pragmatic, thinking individuals. In approaching mod's (modifications that add visible goodies are often called "Farkles"), BMW folks tend to be guided by concerns over actual measureable gains, comfort, and/or safety aspects. Typically, as a group (there are exceptions of course), BMW folks don't buy the Loud Pipes Save Lives argument. You'll find a lot of stock exhaust systems on BMW motorcycles. Again with exceptions, we tend toward All The Gear, All The Time (ATGATT).

BMW riders tend to ride a LOT; there are people in the BMW community who routinely log 50,000 miles per year, and there are people who have garnered the Million Mile award. There are plenty of BMW's running around with upwards of 300,000 miles on them, and more than a few with double that.

BMW riders tend to be individuals; tend to avoid riding in packs or in parade formation; tend to be safety-conscious; pursue advanced rider training; tend to avoid riding impaired.

Many BMW riders venture far off the beaten path, visiting and often camping in the great outdoors.