Gillian Snoxall wrote on 31/12/08 at 15:58 >In an internet sewing group that I belong to members are free to >discuss any subject at all (even unrelated to sewing) during the first >week of a new year. The result is very enjoyable and convivial, and we >all end up knowing a lot more about each other and becoming good >friends. > >Would this be worth trying with SMUG?
I've been on lists that do this and they sharply divide people. LMUG ended up with a splinter group caled Blatherskites, which attempted to take the off-topic stuff away from the list but ironically ended up with most of the worthwhile Mac people on it, leaving LMUG to its fate. [Our recent guest Eezee E was the tipping point in that, as I remember.) I was also on the Nisus list for years which became a bit of a nightmare too. In short, I'm not interested in trying it, not on principle but because I have had a lot of experience of it. There's a place for such groups but they only work IMO when they spontaneously appear with a certain set of people. The noise tends to drive people away - I left Nisus (even though it had some fantastic people on it) when they were debating mediaeval bagpipes (Nisus is a word processor). I like a fairly lax arrangement for occasional posts (I do this myself, partly to set the tone) but not threads - if you see what I mean. The odd item of interest, curiosity and so on is fine as long as it doesn't become too lively and a distraction. But you can find chatty groups in a lot of places, much more easily than you can find genial advice like you do here. A good way to consider posts is that whatever you write might be the first thing a new person sees. I think this group, since it claims affiliation with the other MUGs, should offer a very strong probability that the first post someone sees is a helpful response to a Mac question. To put it another way, we are very lucky here - this group works extremely well (honestly! I've seen many much worse, and none better) for what it says it does. I wouldn't like to change that, personally. (nb not really speaking as moderator and shutting this conversation down, just as interested member) --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sussex Mac User Group" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/smug?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
