Welcome to HPFGU-Feedback

[KathyK]

Hi Everyone,
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I am excited about this trial Feedback forum.  I'm very interested 
in hearing what other listmembers think about different subjects 
pertaining to this list, if only to gauge if my thoughts are out in 
left field somewhere and to see if I need to reevaluate them.  
Thank you, List Elves!

Question from the List Elves:

>>If you could change one thing about HPfGU, what would it be?<<

KathyK:

I'd like to echo the sentiments of Annemehr and wish that some of 
the older listmembers who haven't been posting would come back and 
do so.  If only because I'm so new, I feel I've missed out on a lot 
of the fun.

Also, I have noticed a lot of rule breaking going on these days (and 
I have also noticed the Onlist Admin responses, which I very much 
appreciate).  For instance, in the last couple days there's been an 
increase in the number of posters using the "Now Me" approach in 
their responses rather than using their name.  This could be a cause 
for some of the improper attibutions going on lately.  

Relating my wish with my observation, I have to say that I think an 
increased presence of List Elves posting on the Main List would help 
to lead by example and show members how it's done.  I know many List 
Elves already post on the list and that maintaining such a large 
group can be nothing other than very time-consuming so this may not 
be plausible.  

Personally speaking though, I picked up my posting etiquette from a 
few members who post fairly frequently and whose posts are always 
both entertaining and thoughtful.  Some of those posters I learned 
from are list elves.  I didn't post much before the deluge after 
OoP's release and got off moderated status shortly after the 
release.  I can't recall properly but I think maybe one of my 
messages was sent back to me while being moderated but I can tell 
you I didn't learn proper posting etiquette from being on moderated 
status.  I learned by watching the list.  So at first, my posts were 
very messy with not nearly enough snipping, as were many during that 
crazy time.  Oh, and I just realized I forgot to change the subject 
heading on my last post to the main list and I know better.  Yikes!  
I'm part of the problem, too!

In addition to List Elves posting more being helpful for listmembers 
(note: I do not mean *new* members, as I have only been here almost 
6 months) to remember to snip and attribute correctly, it would also 
give some of the listmembers the chance to get to know the list 
administration team a little better.  That might help when the next 
person decides to accuse the elves of being a despotic clique or 
some other nonsense, if the members can see that the List Elves are 
still normal posters just like the rest of us.  I think, too, I 
would be more comfortable discussing questions or problems if I knew 
to whom I was addressing these problems.

Shaun wrote in message 13:

>but I do wonder if some people feel it's not worth bothering to 
post. And some discussion we've had at times - especially after OotP 
came out, where people were talking about their 'list strategies' 
and some people were saying they only read the 'best posters' and 
things like that - well, I can really see some people deciding it's 
not worth writing stuff nobody is going to read.<

KathyK:

Well, that I just have to jump in on because I'm one of those people 
who seriously considered giving up after reading about posting 
strategies on OTC.  But quite a few listmembers kindly wrote to me 
and told me this was *not* the way to go.  And they're right.  Even 
though I continue to feel my posts are largely ignored, I still get 
a great deal out of writing messages and reading responses to them 
if there are any.  I, too, know some people do read my posts and 
they're not nearly the caliber of Shaun's.

Shaun:

>(1) People should read all messages for any thread they are 
participating in.
(2) People should read as many messages on the list as they 
practically can.<

KathyK:

As for (1) I thought this was already a rule?  Or at least something 
that Admin reminds us of from time to time?  

I like (2) mainly because of that same irritation at reading the 
same topic on different threads in the same week, when it wouldn't 
take much effort to go back a couple days to see if anything similar 
has been discussed lately.  But I don't know if it will help with 
this issue.  And as someone who feels ignored but has had to be 
highly selective in her message reading and even more selective in 
her posting of late due to RL intrusions, I don't know if this will 
make anyone who is discouraged at a lack of responses feel any 
better about it because they could also not be reading many 
messages.  I feel badly every time I see someone write a message 
saying it's their first post and I don't have time or the 
inclination to respond and always hope someone else writes something 
about it.  Now I'm babbling, I think, so I'll stop.

The List Elves asked:

>>Should there be some formal recognition of good/long-time 
posters?<<

KathyK:

Like some of the others who responded, I thought the way to 
recognize the good posters was throught Fantastic Posts.  Also, on 
the FP page in "The History of HPfGU" appears an appendix at the end 
listing the Hall of Fame members-based on number of posts-of each 
list and the number of posts those members have made.  Perhaps all 
that is necessary is an update of this list and if more recognition 
is needed, remove it from an appendix and give it it's own space.  I 
very much enjoyed reading the first posts of some of the Hall of 
Famers.  

The List Elves:

>>If past experience is any guide, we'll be getting a surge of new 
posters next June when the PoA movie premieres. How should we deal 
with it?<<

KathyK:

I'm not really sure on this one but I wanted to respond to a few 
people who made suggestions.

Jen Reese in message 3:

>1) Restricting the list size<


KathyK:

While this may be helpful to the problem, I see this suggestion as 
highly unfair to people who might want to join but can't.  Besides, 
if list size was restricted, who's to say HPFGU wouldn't be 
excluding an amazing potential poster with all sorts of wonderful, 
different ideas?  I get the same feel for the "open enrollment" 
idea, that it could be helpful in controlling an influx of new 
posters but could drive away a number of people looking to read 
about and discuss HP *right now.*  Both have the feel of exclusivity 
(don't know that it's a word but, what the heck) that this group 
tends to avoid and wants to avoid, I think.

Jen Reese:

>3) I've always wondered about the many members who never post. How
about offering a limited time to lurk (say 3-6 months) and if a
person doesn't post they are taken off the list?
>4) My other thought was cleaning out the member list by having a
link on the homepage for say 2 months, where everyone who wants to
continue being a member has to click on that link. Anyone not
registering by a certain date would be taken off (but could re-
enroll).<

KathyK:

My best friend is one of those who has never posted a message.  He 
considered it, when he first joined in early July, but soon gave up 
on the idea after being flooded with mail messages.  I told him to 
go to Web View and I encouraged him to post but he was overwhelmed.  
Therefore he sticks with part-time lurking.  No need to lurk all the 
time as I always tell him about the interesting ideas proposed on 
the list.  I think he would be more than annoyed if he were taken 
off the list for not posting.  And he never visits the website and 
may miss an Admin message in his mailbox telling him he'd better go 
there if he wants to stay subscribed.  
I don't know that he'd bother to resubscribe and he wouldn't walk 
away from the experience with a warm, fuzzy feeling for this group 
to tell all his friends about. 

Susan wrote in message 14:

>I don't know how these things work but would it be possible to have 
a group for each of the books? I realize that there would still have
to be a general (main) list for those that meld their ideas through
the entire epic, but a lot of the posts only pertain to one book. Do
you think this would be a significant enough reduction from the main
list to be feasible?<

KathyK:

I think a separate list for each of the books would be massively 
confusing and nearly impossible to maintain because of how much 
cross-referencing of the books is done on each thread.  Besides, I 
have hard enough time keeping up with the lists we have, divided 
very clearly, I think.  I've had to give up on the movie list 
entirely at this time.  If I had to search through five lists apart 
from the main one for canonical discussions, I might start pulling 
out my hair in frustration.  

Susan:

>And maybe a Tbay/FILK list. I personally don't read them...not 
because they aren't good, as a matter of fact they are so good that 
I get quite confused with what is fake and what is real.<

KathyK:

This is less complicated than separating out the list by books but 
I'm still not in favor of the idea.  The reason these posts are 
labeled as such is so that listees know what's in the message and 
can just skip over them if they don't want to read them.  

I think Haggridd's idea in message 15 is interesting but I'd have a 
lot of questions about that before thinking it's a good idea.  I'd 
ask them now but I've been writing this response for the past three 
hours and I'm getting a little tired.

I agree with Annemehr and June's thoughts on the matter, really.  
Prepared, well trained list elves, model posters, patience, visible 
rules and encouragement are the way to go, I think. 

Thank you again, for giving us the opportunity to discuss these 
things.  I love HPFGU and plan to be around for quite a while.  And 
thanks for all the hard work you put into these groups.

KathyK, with the sneaking suspicion that she's still going to be 
standing all alone in left field