I haven't chimed in yet, and I *have* signed up for the OT list, but I gotta say, I don't like the idea of a separate list. For me, this list is mostly about communicating with a bunch of interesting people who I occasionally have the pleasure of meeting FTF, and keeping up with my friends' mp3s, videos and opinions. I valued the book topic. Every day, I delete huge ranges of messages – but viewing them by conversation makes this really easy. I don't keep up with any other community, really, not having the time. To me, the OT stuff tends to be more interesting than the long threads on equipment that I don't have or use.
I have to wonder how much the community is willing to sacrifice in order to accommodate a very few (I think) people who, for one reason or another, have trouble with the format. My vote is to OT on, right on this list. I don't feel that it's been abused.
Warren