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)