Mailing lists

[John Harvey]

Forums can have advantages and disadvantages but they do tend to mean
people only read what is of narrow interest whereas a mailing list
encourages you to read different issues and think about them IMHO.  Not
to mention the workload forums force onto moderators as they invariably
go off topic.

The list does have a reasonable volume of mail, this doesnt bother me
that much but it might be worthy also of compiling a weekly FAQ and
directing new members and existing members to it when they join or via
an email with a link, this may save some repitition of questions as
well.



On Sun, 2004-10-03 at 12:57 +0800, John wrote:
> Matt Zimmerman wrote:
> > On Sun, Oct 03, 2004 at 11:12:42AM +0800, John wrote:
> > 
> > 
> >>I suggest a division along these lines. I don't think that these 
> >>categorisations are perfect and there is some room for debate on whether 
> >>these suggestions should be implemented, and if so, what lists are 
> >>desirable. Ultimately, the final decision rests with Canonical.
> >>
> >>[getting started, settling in, folding and spiking, using, testing]
> 
> > My feeling about an ubuntu-beginners list is that if we divide the lists
> 
> I didn't say "beginners." I expect a lot of first-time installers won't 
> be beginning users of Linux, and if Canonical wants to have someone keep 
> an eye on the list, then the workload should be relatively light,
> 
> 
> Mostly, I read everything on lists I follow, but I find that doing so on 
> this list takes more time than I wish to spend. Particularly, when I 
> miss a day or so,
> 
> Volunteers tend to make great gobs of stuff read just to catch up, or to 
> leave the list altogether.
> 
> If anyone's paid to read this stuff, then their employer will get a 
> better return if the questions can be categorised in some way.
> 
> I think that inviting people to subscribe before they download or 
> install will help ensure that questions regarding installation issues 
> will be directed to the appropriate list.
> 
> Similarly, ensuring that they know about the next level of (free) 
> support _after_ successull installation will help ensure those questions 
> go to the correct list.
> 
> 
> However, people wanting questions dealing with more advanced topics 
> shouldn't have to cope with the volume of questions on (to them) trivial 
> matters.
> 
> 
> I note with interest in people's interest in discussion forums. My 
> experience with them hasn't been so attractive. I think that it is more 
> likely that users will visit, register if they must, ask their questions 
>   and leave. Clearly some stary longer than that, but I find I have to 
> make a special effort to go to a forum whereas in contrast, mailing 
> lists arrive in my inboxes and demand my attention.
> 
> If I think the demand reasonable then I accept it; otherwise I am likely 
> to leave (as I did wrt some Debian lists recently).
> 
> 
> If this list were a forum, I'd have dropped out long ago.
> 
> 
> 
> 
-- 
John Harvey
http://www.monkeyc.net
email : linux at monkeyc.net

Using ubuntu linux - http://www.ubuntulinux.org