On 2/9/01 11:50 PM, "murr rhame" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Not sure what you mean by "not closed to subscribers." If you
> allows posts from non-subscribers, you will be spammed. This is
> a fact of life on the Internet. Some lists admins choose to stay
> wide open.
That's what they mean -- open to anyone to post. This is actually fairly
common on lists involving open source projects, under the misguided belief
that users should be able to ask for help without subscribing to the list.
Ht:dig and Mailman are both currently configured this way, which is one
reason wwhy I'm no longer on the Ht:dig list, and why I'm wavering about the
Mailman list. The owners think it's worth putting up with the spam. It's
hard to argue with a list owner running things their way, and the only
response you really have is voting with your feet.
> The semi-dormant
> list does get few "where did everybody go" questions now and then
> and once in a while a valid thread springs to life.
This, FWIW, is the OTHER side of the whole granularity issue. You can't
*over* granularize your stuff, because if you chop it up too finely, you can
run into the issue of not having a critical mass of people to make the list
work, because they're split up across lists so they can't co-mingle and get
conversations going.
That's not the only reason lists go fallow, of course. But to use my
favorite sports-bar analogy, if you have a nice, big sports bar, but it has
50 rooms and two people in each room, it's not going to be a very lively
place.
Another one of those judgement call things (bah. The technology parts are
easy! giggle) -- if you wedge too many things onto one list, you get
conflict. If you split those things across too many lists, you get --
silence.
Unfortunately, that leads to another reason why mail lists suck: if you have
multiple lists that are related in some general way (I run hockey lists, for
instance) -- mail lists suck at cross fertilization, and they can really get
out of control fast if some overarching topic shows up and you end up with
twelve independent conversations going on at once -- when what you'd really
like is to herd everyonee into the big lecture hall to talk to each other.
> Some of the problems I've seen described recently on
> list-managers puzzle me. For example, if someone sent a half
> dozen one-line replies to one of my lists, they would get one
> warning via private email. If the didn't take the hint, I'd
> either put them in always-moderate mode or punt them. Same goes
> for [...]
You're seeing issues of differing list admin styles come into play. You're a
fairly pro-active one, so I think you nip stuff in the bud. Others are
pretty laid back (when was the last time Mike got involved in a
list-managers thing?). It also depends on the audience. I think these things
are more likely if you have a turnover in the list, a flow of new members
that have to learn how the list wants things done. Once a list stabilizes to
a known population, it tends to go away. The faster the list population is
growing or churning, the more likely you run into this stuff.
> One a list I host that is attractive to disruptive subscribers.
> I use a simple application...
Nice hack. I like that.
> If you let brush fires go unattended, a list can get out of
> control pretty quick. It's a lot easier to keep things in order
> than it is to recover a list that has gone to the dogs... On the
> other hand, an anal-retentive list admin can kill a mailing list.
> You have to develop a feel for when you can let minor problems
> slide and when you need to step in.
Agreed completely. I might even get it right some day. About the only thing
I'd add is that each list has a personality, and it's important to figure
out how the list wants to be administered. All my lists are different. Some
really want a tight focus, some like to wander all over the map, and some
want me to stay the hell out of the way and just replace the furniture after
they're done throwing it at each other. You can set lmiits, but it's more
important to me what the list wants than what I want for the list, IMHO...
--
Chuq Von Rospach, Internet Gnome <http://www.chuqui.com>
[<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> = <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> = <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>]
Yes, yes, I've finally finished my home page. Lucky you.
Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties
are largely ceremonial.
