Date: Wed, 12 Apr 1995 15:25:57 -0400
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: drew@interport.net (Derek Drew)
Subject: /f life of mailing lists
Subject: FW: Life cycle of Lists (fwd)
This came from another list I am on but seemed appropriate to this list.
>This seemed like a good time to post this item from the Humor List.
>Michael Forster
>
>
>
>THE NATURAL LIFE CYCLE OF MAILING LISTS
>
>Every list seems to go through the same cycle:
>
>1. Initial enthusiasm (people introduce themselves, and gush
> alot about how wonderful it is to find kindred souls).
>
>2. Evangelism (people moan about how few folks are posting to
> the list, and brainstorm recruitment strategies).
>
>3. Growth (more and more people join, more and more lengthy
> threads develop, occasional off-topic threads pop up)
>
>4. Community (lots of threads, some more relevant than others;
> lots of information and advice is exchanged; experts help other
> experts as well as less experienced colleagues; friendships
> develop; people tease each other; newcomers are welcomed with
> generosity and patience; everyone---newbie and expert alike---
> feels comfortable asking questions, suggesting answers, and
> sharing opinions)
>
>5. Discomfort with diversity (the number of messages increases
> dramatically; not every thread is fascinating to every
> reader; people start complaining about the signal-to-noise
> ratio; person 1 threatens to quit if *other* people don't
> limit discussion to person 1's pet topic; person 2 agrees
> with person 1; person 3 tells 1 & 2 to lighten up; more
> bandwidth is wasted complaining about off-topic threads
> than is used for the threads themselves; everyone gets
> annoyed)
>
>6a. Smug complacency and stagnation (the purists flame everyone
> who asks an 'old' question or responds with humor to a serious
> post; newbies are rebuffed; traffic drops to a doze-producing
> level of a few minor issues; all interesting discussions happen
> by private email and are limited to a few participants; the
> purists spend lots of time self-righteously congratulating
> each other on keeping off-topic threads off the list)
>
> OR
>
>6b. Maturity (a few people quit in a huff; the rest of the
> participants stay near stage 4, with stage 5 popping up briefly
> every few weeks; many people wear out their second or third
> 'delete' key, but the list lives contentedly ever after)
>
Derek Drew
drew@interport.net (preferred)
DerekDrew@aol.com (if interport is down)
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