Someone starts a thread (in this case Luca and his Restpark), about something they would like to get some feedback on. In the very first reply, an issue arises that is at best tangential to the thread subject, but (in my opinion) has no direct bearing on it: issues around "SPARQL scales?" and perhaps in comparison with REST, etc.
40+ messages follow on "scaling", with the few on Restpark interspersed. Only the hardiest souls interested in Restpark would have combed through these messages to see the topic that interests them (or people who are retired with nothing better to do because they don't like gardening :-) ) This is no way to run a mailing list to get the widest engagement. It was clear very early (third message?) that the scaling topic had arisen - at that stage the discussion should have moved to a new thread on scaling; or simply changed the subject line to have "SPARQL Scaling - was Restpark - Minimal…". Then the people who might want to discuss Restpark can do so in their own thread, and the scaling people can have their thread, without being bothered by the Restpark discussion if they don't want to be. Simples! I wouldn't bother, but this seems to be the normal way this lists works - check out the archive if you want! It makes it quite dysfunctional. Note that I did not simply add this message to the Restpark thread, which is what usually happens in this list! Best Hugh
