Greetings all, For those of you on the VIPhone list, this will be an entry from the DORD (department of redundancy department). After having read two posts sent to this list earlier today which I will quote below, I decided that this list might also need a reminder.
At this writing, 688 addresses are subscribed to the Macvisionaries list. I strive to avoid cluttering the list with mod notes, but considering our recent growth and over abundance of dubious content (see below) we've reached the point where I must again ask for everyone's help keeping the list traffic manageable. Please bare in mind that the number of subscribers and volume of posts are the primary reasons why this list can not function as a chat group. Simply put, if the clutter reaches a certain point, its reasonable to expect that many subscribers who are willing to help will conclude that the time commitment necessary to follow and contribute to the list is greater than what is possible in their lives. A formula that may illustrate the impact of a post is that if we except that it takes a screen reader user a minimum of five seconds to dispose of a message, even if its just to read the header and hit delete. Multiplying 688 subscribers times five seconds equals an absolute minimum of over 57 minutes of human life consumed by each and every post. We therefore ask that before posting, please take an introspective moment to consider whether your content warrants the time and attention of 974 (and counting) people. Another contributor to excessive list traffic occurs when members who are capable of conducting a modicum of research such as looking on the app store or entering a Google search instead opt to consume everyone's time by posting a question which could have easily been answered in a minute. To be sure we all come to the table with different knowledge and abilities, and I probably speak for the entire list in saying that I would have all the patients in the world with someone who does not yet understand the app store interface asking what an app does, but there is absolutely no excuse for someone who is clearly familiar with the app store app to dump a question on the list asking (for example) the price of an app. Having said that, when posting about an app please try and anticipate questions and include as much information as possible such as the app's description, price, URL, and regions where it's available if known. We are still working on putting formal guidelines together, but in the mean time, I expect newcomers will not initially realize the size of this list hence will believe that an intro post is appropriate. I ask, however that all replies to such posts take place off list unless of course others on the list might benefit from your content. E.G. a message such as "hello Joe Blow, Welcome to the list. Lots of wonderful people hang out here. should be sent privately. Can you imagine how overwhelming it would become if all 688 of us post a welcome message like that in response to an introduction? An example of a welcome message that is totally appropriate for public consumption is something like: "Hello Joe, when I began using my Mac I found it much easier to use the trackpad and keyboard commanders than remembering these five finger key commands .". Thanks for helping us keep this list directed and worth while for everyone. Below are a small sampling of two posts written today which would have been more aptly sent privately. My intent is not to pick on anyone, but rather to give examples of the kind of content that in the opinion of the list management team and presumably most subscribers does not warrant the time and attention of an extremely large audience. Best regards. Geoff On May 31, 2011, at 4:02 AM, Max wrote: > Thank you very much for these tips Anne. I'll play around and see how > it goes. > > On May 31, 2011, at 11:45 AM, joseph wrote: > thanks for the info. i downloaded the app but haven't tried it yet. > > best -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en.
