Is It Just Me . . .

[Cindy C.]

Richelle wrote:

>Feel free to come up with a solution, Cindy, and I'll be right 
>there with you!

Hee!

Your wish is my command, Richelle!  ;-)

Actually, I just came back from a week at the beach, and I listened 
to most of OoP on CD on the drive.  ($43 at Costco -- such a deal!)  
All of these ideas for posts kept popping into my head, and I 
started to get bummed at the thought of the message volume on the 
main list.  

Yeah, I think the problem is the message volume, rather than message 
quality or anything like that.  To the extent I have read main list 
posts, they are plenty good, largely due to the efforts of our hard-
working and selfless List Administrators.  There are just a whole 
lot of posts, by any measure.  Heck, I remember from my research in 
writing "HPfGU:  A History" that this list (OT-Chatter) was spun off 
because of frustration with high message volume on the Main List.  
Back then, 3,000 messages a month were considered intolerable!

<checks Main List Home page statistics showing over *8000* messages 
for July and 10,600 members; laughs hysterically>

Last time, the solution was to spin off OT-Chatter and the 
Announcements list.  Now, though, the problem is just too many on-
topic canon posts, IMHO.  We could try to find some neat dividing 
line -– moving SHIP posts or TBAY posts or FILKs to a separate list, 
but none of these types of posts really accounts for a significant 
part of list volume.  The last time I checked the stats, SHIP posts 
were less than 5% of list volume, and TBAY posts were less than 2%, 
IIRC.  Besides, banishing a particular type of post to a separate 
list isn't up to me or any of us -– that's a matter for the List 
Administrators, I think.

So like I said, I was on the beach, and I started thinking about 
what businesses do when they get *too* successful and have too many 
customers.  Well, if there are too many people in line at the 
checkout, the store opens another register.  If there are too many 
people waiting to be seated for dinner, the restaurant opens an 
adjacent room.

In our case, we have too many people who want to discuss canon at 
one time.  So why don't we just open up another room for canon 
discussion?  

Yep, that's what I'm thinking right now.  I think we should just 
start another list for canon discussion.  It would have a completely 
open membership –- it would *not* be a clique or an elite club or 
anything like that.  No, no, no.  Anyone -– wide-eyed newbie or 
crusty old veteran -- could post on the main list, the new list or 
both, as much or as little as they wanted.  The new list wouldn't 
moderate new members; hopefully most people would learn the ropes on 
the Main List.  The new list would follow all of the established 
rules of HPfGU –- it would be an annex, really.  If the List 
Administrators are willing, the new list could be promoted right 
along with the Main List –- after all, if lots of HPfGU members 
start posting on the new list, it should make list administration 
for the Main List that much easier.

Now, what would be the difference between the Main List and the new 
list?  How would we make sure that the new list didn't eventually 
wind up with the same message volume problems as the Main List?  

I think the main difference would be this:  the new list would have 
no limit on the number of members, but it would temporarily close to 
new members once list volume began to exceed a certain level, 
perhaps 2500 posts per month.  Once volume settled down again, it 
would open to new members again.  The idea would be that people who 
really object to high message volume could always know that there 
will be a place for discussion where message volume is kept at a 
reasonable level, but where the same high standards for post quality 
exist.  

So what do you guys think?  Is there any interest in that?  Or not?

Cindy -- who always somehow manages to take the kids to the beach 
during Discovery Channel's "Shark Week" and then has to coax them 
into the water by swearing there are no sharks in Delaware