[wplug] Fwd: prometheus [radio] back in pittsburgh!

[Shane Liesegang]

I've been on -- I can't even remember how many -- e-mail lists over the 
last 10 years or so, and practically all of them run in to this problem 
at one time or another. The less targeted a list, the more likely it is 
to go off-topic.

A mailing list of developers implementing a very specific library: 
nearly 100% on topic
A mailing list of students who all live in the same dorm: moderately 
on-topic
A mailing list for people of similar political persuasion: gets 
off-topic quite a bit

So we then have to break down WPLUG. Western Pennsylvania Linux User 
Group. If I have something that is only of interest to Western 
Pennsylvanians, and has nothing to do with Linux, should I send it? What 
if I have some information about a huge Linux installation happening out 
here in California? Would people consider my posts off-topic by 
definition because I no longer live in Western Pennsylvania?

What about something about FairPlay being cracked? Can I assume that 
most people who would be interested in Linux would also be interested in 
that? What about new hackable hardware? Government wiretaps? Steelers 
draft picks? Browns draft picks?

You see the slippery slope -- with a group as broad as "Linux users" 
it's really tough to determine what people consider "on topic."

Thus, the "laissez-faire" attitude of moderation is probably the best. 
Stop the spam, but let any "real" mail through, regardless of subject. 
If people aren't interested in it, it will die out eventually. A survey 
of the recent traffic law thread shows a pretty healthy mix of 
participants; it's not like 2 or 3 people were just bouncing back and 
forth. So it seems that there was at least some kind of interest among 
the group.

I assume everyone filters WPLUG mail to its own folder anyway -- if 
you're technical enough to be interested in Linux, I would hope you know 
how to filter your mail. That way there's no way for mailing list mail 
to mess up your inbox and keep you from seeing something important. 
Personally, when I look at my WPLUG folder and see 30+ messages since 
the previous morning, I kind of roll my eyes and assume "uh oh, 
something blew up." :-)

	- SJML


Jonathan S. Billings wrote:
> On Fri, 2006-06-16 at 12:04 -0400, Pat Barron wrote:
>> Because it puts the burden on the reader to filter out things that should
>> never have been sent to the mailing list in the first place.
>>
>> A better solution might be to start a new mailing list
>> "wplug-talk" (or something) whose purpose is basically social
>> interaction, and/or discussions of off-topic things that the
>> local Linux community may be interested in.
> 
> I've heard this suggestion several times, when I was moderating
> wplug at wplug.org.  The problem?  People wouldn't use it unless someone
> came along and moderated wplug.  And that's probably not going to
> happen.  Also, if people want to genuinely converse online, they use
> IRC.  (#wplug on irc.freenode.net)
> 
> People just need to realize that the wplug mailing list is a community,
> and people sometimes chat off topic.  Anyway, how do you define
> off-topic?  I'm sure the definition is different from one person to the
> next.  If you're too strict, you scare off some people, and if you are
> too open, why bother moderating at all?
> 
> I know I had some people, including WPLUG board members flame me
> off-list for posting off topic messages.  I guess my definition is a lot
> more open than others.
>