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

[entropymail]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "arrowsmithbt"
<arrowsmithbt at b...> wrote:
> --- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "davewitley"
<dfrankiswork at n...> wrote:
> <snip> There was no golden age.

> Kneasy:
Possibly, but that's no reason to not aspire to one. <snip> And
judging by some of the posts a proportion of them have never  bothered
to read the books properly. Doesn't stop 'em posting, though.

Entropy:

True, Kneasy. The problem may be two-fold: I am frustrated lately by
not just the caliber of the posts, but by the subjects themselves. 
First, if I'm going to entertain a theory (or post one myself), it's
got to be chock-full of canon and common sense; a simple post stating
a theory and a sentence from Book 3 to back it up just isn't going to
do it for me. And second, I'm personally getting a bit tired of being
asked to entertain the same theories over and over again. (No offense
to all of you Vampire!Snape diehards out there, but do we really need
to be re-hashing that one again? )

My concern is not so much that the list is getting too big or too
busy, or too whatever, but that it is in grave danger of stagnating. 
In my mind, the older posters have (rightfully so) a "been there, done
that" attitude: they've done the research and collaborated on the
theories and drawn their conclusions, and don't really have much
interest in watching the newbies start at square one all over again.  


>Kneasy:<snip>So call me a whiner - better to my mind than airily
dismissing concerns  from the lofty eminence of 4 years on site. One
stance is concerned about  maintaining reasonably adult standards; the
other sees no cause to worry. Sorry, I think you're wrong. The
complexion of the membership is changing, and not in a way I  feel
comfortable with. 

Entropy:

Once again, Kneasy, I agree. Whether or not  problems have been
brought up in the past is no reason to dismiss them now.  Perhaps the
complaints were unfounded in the past; or, perhaps those complaining
two or three years ago simply saw then what has now reached critical mass.

In any case, it doesn't seem out of line to consider somehow splitting
the list.  Although someone suggested that other lists have been
divided by subject (Snape, FILKS, Ships, etc.), I don't think anything
that drastic is necessary.  Simply splitting the list into two groups: 

(1)newbies who are excited about discovering older theories for
themselves and 
(2) oldies who have a certain amount of time put into the group (or a
certain number of posts)

seems to me to be a fair way of keeping newer members happy and older
members interested.

Elves, are you listening?

:: Entropy ::