[NTLUG:Discuss] New NTLUG Forum??

[Steve Baker]

MadHat wrote:

> There are already hundreds of lists that cover these topics.  
> Why create another one?
> What is the goal?
> 
> Also, how does bypassing MS licensing fit into any of these?
> Which one of these has specifically been show down?
> 
> I have not asked that any topic be stopped until it has reached a point
> where it is not about Linux anymore.  Any of the things listed here that
> regard the Linux OS or a Linux distribution has not been asked to stop.

Email is like a conversation - and naturally, conversations 'drift' from
their original topic onto other interesting areas.  If you repeatedly cut
off those conversations part way through, it becomes VERY irritating - like
someone changing the channel of your TV right in the middle of a show you
were watching.

I was quite interested in the way the discussion about the XP network faking
was heading - but now it's dead.  Whilst there might indeed be better places
to START a discussion like that, there is nowhere else that conversation
WILL be continued.  It's not going to be taken anywhere else where I can
read it - so cutting it off just completely killed the discussion -
and for me, that was just annoying.

There are hardly *any* conversations on this list that couldn't be held
somewhere else.  Any conversation that's not specifically relevent ONLY
to Linux and ONLY in North Texas could better be held *somewhere* else.

If you take things to extremes of specificity and uniqueness, you don't need
this list *AT ALL*.  All you really need is an 'announce' list for events and
stuff like that.  There would be a couple of posts a month and that would be
*it*.

This list is about community.  We are a community - and we like to chat - that's
what the mailing list is all about and policing it *TOO* hard is as bad as just
letting any old crap onto the list.  Other lists (like maybe the Linux Kernel
list) are NOT about community - they cover a carefully focussed subject area
and random chatter is definitely a bad thing - people are brutal in their
treatment of newbies - and rightly so.  But this list is more like a bunch
of friends chatting with each other with an area of common interest.

I administer a lot of mailing lists - and my attitude is to allow conversation
drift - and only cut a thread off if several people complain to me about it
(just one isn't enough).  I might interject with a comment like "Isn't this
getting a bit off-topic?", which will generally close the thread if people
aren't particularly enjoying it.   I *DO* complain if a thread starts off
with an off-topic post though - that's just rude.

I would urge that moderation be used in moderation - no need to start any
new lists, no need to change the list charter.

---------------------------- Steve Baker -------------------------
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