Once again - exactly what makes a forum so unwieldly? It takes the same effort merely directed in a different manner. More to the point would be that you are afraid of change. The only way a forum ends up not being visited is if those who began it don't continue to support it and foster the community - the onus is on us.
I didn't misunderstand you, because the statement was not yours but Christain's.
All for the "newbies" issue, I did not say you were beholden - that your misunderstanding. My point was there has been an underlying tone of wanting separation from newcomers - even in the meeting on this past Wednesday, the statement was made about "not dealing with newbies". I would then not be the one "making it difficult" for others to partake - rather, *I'm* the one who is offering suggestions for how to become more inviting.
As for this "healthy mix" not working on a forum, then I guess you aren't aware of forums like [H]ardOCP.com, Anandtech.com, MaximumPC, ExtremePC just to name a few. A mailing list and a forum are the same thing, only approached differently and vary only slightly on issues - the people make the difference, not the medium.
-----Original Message-----
From: Aaron J. Seigo [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Friday, December 06, 2002 10:58 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: (clug-talk) Website and Forum?
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On Thursday 05 December 2002 02:23, Andrew Barnes wrote:
> Using the forum for news & general meetings defeats the purpose of a forum
> - that information is better served on the homepage where it's seen
> immediately. Why make someone dig for news?
agreed
> I realize it is everyone's choice as to which communication method to use,
> but it is sabotage to exclude one. Frankly, quite elitist if someone
> wishes to keep themselves from the "newbies". We were all newbies at one
> time, and how does one expect new people to join if the effort is not made
> to welcome them?
perhaps you misunderstood what i was saying when i said that forums would
result in many of those who have knowledge to offer not being there. it isn't
that they are elitist and say "i don't DO web forums", rather web forums are
inneficient and unwieldly, especially when compared to email. so they simply
often end up not visiting them. if it isn't convenient for these very busy
people to get to, they won't get to it as often. that should be an easy
concept to grasp, especially since this isn't their job but rather it's an
avocation..
as for "keeping themselves from the newbies", since when was i and my free
time beholden to anyone? reality check 101: everyone is here because they
wish to be. nobody is your personal help desk slave, your personal code
monkey, your personal wishlist implementor. the moment you start making
demands of people is the moment they start backing off. if you make things
difficult to get involved, people will move off. this is true for both
newbies and the experienced.
so, which would you rather have: a bunch of clueless newbies milling about,
just experienced hands on the ranch, or a healthy mix of both? i'm all for
the healthy mix. that would indeed by helped by a better website and i'm glad
to hear you are working on one.
but i look at this mailing list and see a healthy mix, something which i
guarentee you won't happen on a web forum.
> I am not calling for the death of the mailing list much less IRC; I am
> calling for a format that others might be more familiar with to include
> those people for their participation.
email isn't familiar? what internet do you live on? everyone i know on the
'net does email, and the newbies tend to be a lot more familiar and
comfortable with it.
and for godess' sake people: can you please delete the parts of the emails you
don't reply to in your replies? 20k for 2 lines of reply is rediculous.
- --
Aaron J. Seigo
GPG Fingerprint: 8B8B 2209 0C6F 7C47 B1EA EE75 D6B7 2EB1 A7F1 DB43
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler"
- Albert Einstein
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