Hello All,
Just finished reading the interesting thread about a potential (and
imminent?) split of TBUDL, probably by spinning off another group,
TBTECH, for advanced topics. It seems every time I'm away from the
list for a day or two something interesting is bound to happen. :)
Fortunately this one isn't declared a DH yet, and hopefully there's
still time and space for me to jump in.
Most seem to favor a split, with good reasons. I believe the sense
of being overwhelmed by list traffic is real, and the risk of
driving some users away should indeed be addressed. Yet somehow I
feel there's something wrong with this; something is missing in the
discussion. Let's hope I can make myself clear.
As many others will probably do, I'll subscribe to both and lump
them together in one folder, as I do with TBUDL and TBBETA. I'll end
up getting all the traffic which used to belong to TBUDL. There
would be no difference--AS LONG AS I don't post.
When it comes to posting, I don't know about you, but I'll be in
trouble. Where should I post? Is this too advanced (tech-oriented)
or not? Should TBUDL no longer discuss anything about RegEx? Or
Windows registry? Suddenly the lines between OT/non-OT and
beta/non-beta couldn't be clearer.
Most Q&As/discussions start humbly and grow along the way, IMHO. To
a point, the discussion is out of my league and I give up on it,
unless it really concerns me. Thank God I'm not a moderator, who has
to read everything. ;-)
The tipping point where one stops following a thread, however, has
to differ from one reader to another. To some, RegEx itself is a
techie topic; to others (Marck and Januk sprint to mind), not even a
multi-line RegEx appears daunting.
With the system we have, everything is presented and it's up to the
reader to decide which one to read. It would be great if TB
facilitates something like the "ignore this thread" function seen in
many newsreaders. But at least for TBUDL, where most messages are
posted by TB, threading by reference works reasonably well and it's
easy enough to mark a thread read.
With the proposed split, the decision would have to be made at the
time of posting. Again, I don't know about you, but it won't be easy
for me. Sometimes (let's hope it's not often) we'll have to spend
time arguing whether to move a discussion to TBTECH or vice versa.
I'm even tempted to argue that most new users would eventually
follow a question to TBTECH if they want the final answer. In fact,
the only people I think would benefit from the split are those who
want only advanced discussions and stay only in TBTECH.
That being said, let me reiterate that I believe the problems to be
addressed are real, and I'm sorry I have nothing but skepticism to
offer in this post. I wish I had something more constructive to
write, but well, sometimes one has to admit he's not smart enough.
--
Best regards,
Ming-Li
The Bat! 1.49c | Win2k SP1
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