[theforum] list optimisation (was: Re: Wind down marketing?)

William Anderson neuro at well.com
Mon Mar 15 05:29:55 CST 2004


Garrett Coakley wrote:
> [snippage]
> I've had an thought in the back of my head for a long time now that maybe we
> have too many administration groups. It feels (to me at least) that
> inter-group communication is very fractured, or at least could be better, as
> far as the marketing/finance/desdev/content/sysadmin quintet goes. 
> 
> I can't quite define the problem, it just feels sub-optimal.

I agree.

> The amount of CC's required on this email feel like a symptom of this as-yet
> undefined problem.

I agree with this too.

May I respectfully suggest the following:

    thelist - As-is.
    thechat - As-is.
    thesite - As-is.
   theadmin - content + sysadmin + desdev
theprocess - marketing + finance
   theforum - steering + theforum

Content and development decisions are discussed in theadmin, similar 
non-technical discussions happen in theprocess, discussions from both 
converge in theforum.  Members of theadmin + theprocess should = theforum so 
that cross-posts to a half-dozen lists are unnecessary to catch the 
attention of the collected high-level evolters.

I personally see no need for so many disparate lists, and for one would 
prefer to see all the traffic compressed into more manageable groups.  I am 
unconcerned if desdev traffic mixes with sysadmin traffic, or if theforum 
becomes more of a talkative place.

There were 751 messages to theforum last *year* - that's only about 2 a day 
on average, but the bulk of them (373 messages) were concentrated around the 
big redesign and donation wall discussions in August, which went nowhere :(

We need to talk more in less places, not talk less in more places.

-- 
_ __/|  William Anderson      | Brodie: The Force is strong with this one
\`O_o'  neuro at well dot com |    Jay: Dude, don't encourage him
=(_ _)= http://neuro.me.uk/   |  -- Mallrats, (1995)
    U  - Thhbt! GPG 0xFA5F1100 |


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