No responses on the main list (Was: Wizarding Education )

[Amanda]

David, who is correct:

> > There was no golden age.

Idealist!Kneasy responds: 
> 
> Possibly, but that's no reason to not aspire to one.
> 
<snip>

> So call me a whiner - better to my mind than airily dismissing 
concerns 
> from the lofty eminence of 4 years on site.

Not quite four in my case, but close, so I feel qualified to comment.

Part of what you may be experiencing might honestly have nothing to 
do with the quality of the posts. I was an enthusiastic poster for 
quite a long time--in fact, in the old stats lists I topped the chart 
for quite some time. My participation has tailed off for a couple of 
reasons. One, of course, has to do with increased time demands from 
other aspects of life. But another has to do with "list life."

By that I mean a natural progression of participation. I call 
it "natural" because I have observed and discussed this with other 
old listmembers--I don't feel I'm describing a phenomenon unique to 
me.

Fact is, when you come onboard you are bursting with ideas and 
theories and delighted to find a place to share them. If you stay, 
though, after about a year--about the time you say you've been onlist-
-it starts to be the case that there are no new ideas (or it seems 
not). Enthusiastic new members come on after you and bring up 
theories and ideas that you've already had, or already discussed, or 
already explored. 

At first, you respond and participate, and when relevant, point out 
aspects from the earlier discussions (or provide a thread name, or 
message number of interest). And you strive not to quash these people 
just becaus you've heard this "new" idea four or five times. It's a 
new thought to *them,* and you remind yourself it's not their fault 
you're tired of it.

And after a while, you stop responding to so many posts, because if 
you participate you feel obligated to *fully* participate, and the 
cumulative weight of those earlier discussions and the desire to make 
newcomers aware of brilliant past insights begin to seem conflicted 
with a desire to make them welcome and let them explore and discuss 
for themselves.

And you might end up pretty much lurking, stepping in now and then to 
make a comment.

In this progression, in the "whiny" phase (no offense), there's a 
feeling of letdown. At least for me, I used to be a major poster and 
my ideas were discussed and valued. Then it seemed like nobody was 
reading my stuff anymore; I called myself a list dementor because all 
I had to do was comment and the thread died. Or I'd post a good 
discussion of something, with a fun sig line--and the substance would 
be totally ignored, while spinoff comments on the sig line thrived. 
This was my experience of the whiny phase, and I did in fact whine 
about it (hence no offense, I've been there).

What I'm saying--In that time, when the list doesn't seem quite the 
same and you're trying to figure out why, don't think it's entirely 
externals. There have been discussions upon discussions of whether 
the quality of posts was declining. The quality of posts has always 
fluctuated. As David pointed out, we're coming off a spike, which 
probably accounts for this particular fluctuation (if there is one).

But don't overlook, in analyses of how the list is changing, how your 
interaction with the list may be changing and maturing as well. 

~Amanda