ok, so lets take a recap of what we got on this topic. feel free to point out if i misunderstood or missed something. :D
- a few members want a specialized list to serve the purpose that was intended when the plug mailing list was separated into newbie, misc, main, etc. options suggested are to rename the plug list to incorporate the word advance, or to fork an advanced list. - some wanted to have one single list to reduce administration and the number of lists they are subscribed in. in addition a method of tagging the subject with words that will allow members to apply filters. - some wanted to keep the structure as it is, citing that the additional administration/redirection is an accepted cost. a personal suggestion of increasing tolerance was also forwarded. - a couple of suggestions were placed regarding making the list information more visible/prominent in the website. - a suggestion (more of an fyi) about 'self-moderated' lists which involves a first-time mechanism that informs the new members of the rules. what we have so far on the current mailing list structure: - members who want ready access to an audience that could provide answers to linux questions - members who don't have enough resources and/or willingness to deal with the volume of the mailing lists in their entirety - members who have enough resources and/or willingness to deal with the volume of the mailing lists in their entirety - members who want the guidelines of each mailing list enforced - members who want the guidelines to evolve to reflect the perceived need basically what we have here is a conflict of interests. what we need is a compromise. since each member can put forward a sound argument. the suggestions are put forward to the PLUG board since they have the power to oversee the administration of the mailing lists. this issue has been resurfacing for the past few years/months so it might be a good time to review this and put forward a decision to implement new rules or reject the suggestions. anything below this line is my personal observation on the pros and cons of each suggestion. please take it as such. :) suggestion: rename the main list to incorporate the word advance. the intent is to minimize the effort for redirecting posts to the other lists as well as highlighting the goal of the main tech list and the existence of the newbie list. another pro for this suggestion is that no additional list is required to be created. con is that there is no guarantee that this is going to be effective to achieve its intent given the nature that people give a high complexity rating for problems that they are unfamiliar with. suggestion: create a new specialized list. the intent considers that the state of the current lists would be hard to change and that gives interested users to just opt-in to the new list. con is that this will add to the administration (if any) except if this is going to be started and maintained by a separate entity (like the job list when majority of the plug lists were hosted by q-linux). another con is that should it be successful then the issue with the current tech list may follow, but then there is the advantage of enforcing the rules in a more open fashion. suggestion: create a single list to incorporate the main and newbie list (maybe even plug-misc). the immediate advantage is less technical administration is required since there is only going to be one list. another advantage is that questions are sent to all members thus a wider audience. the con is that members who are already complaining about resources to handle 'additional' mail might be forced to switch to a less invasive mode (digest, etc), or opt-out. filters is not much of an option at the current state since the accuracy percentage might not be that good given the nature of linux related mail. for some digest-mode is worse than the filter option since that means you have to trudge through the mail content. at this point i would like to point out that although no member is irreplaceable, losing experienced members means losing their experience as well. it might hurt in the short term but if there are enough members who pitch in with google time then it might be compensated. suggestion: one list with distinctive subjects to allow filtering. i have seen this in action in the maven list and it works relatively well if all people would adhere to the standard subject classification. left to themselves, people who do remember to tag their subject headers will produce several variations that will probably make filtering a manual task. a good/side effect on automatic filtering is that members who practice post hijacking will be affected. :D suggestion: retain structure and make changes on tolerance and participation level. tolerance is good in promoting goodwill and open camaraderie. but human nature and murphy's law suggests that breakout issues will happen. increasing tolerance entails breaking it from time to time in order to expand its limits. another disadvantage is that tolerance level varies from person to person. like happiness, tolerance is also hard to quantify. suggestion: improving the prominence of the lists on the main plug website. this is to increase the awareness on the different lists available and what are allowed in each. this entails that people start reading the guidelines and supporting documentation (one of the causes of the issue at hand). plug awareness is also done by word of mouth so it might also be worthy to campaign for people, who introduce plug to other people, to provide a brief background on the various mailing lists. suggestion: implementing a self-moderating mechanism. if this is supported by the plug mailing list software then it might be good for new members. it might also be good to send out the guidelines on a monthly basis (similar to membership reminders). this will promote the spreading of information at the cost of additional bandwidth overhead. however, people have the tendency to not read and disregard repeated reminders. the suggestion however ensures that members get to read the guidelines at least once, and that makes awareness a non-issue. thinking about it, maybe even this thread is off topic here. but since plug-org is not yet functional and not all board members are subscribed in plug-misc then it might make better sense to send it here. ciao! -- "Programming, an artform that fights back" Anuerin G. Diaz Registered Linux User #246176 Friendly Linux Board @ http://mandrivausers.org/index.php http://capsule.ramfree17.org , when you absolutely have nothing else better to do _________________________________________________ Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List [email protected] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Read the Guidelines: http://linux.org.ph/lists Searchable Archives: http://archives.free.net.ph
