[WinMac] Re: list traffic (WinMac Digest #285 - 04/15/99)
David McKnight(dmcknight[at]fleetwood.com)
Fri, 16 Apr 1999 11:12:45 -0700
MARC:
My point was not about filtering, it was about relevance, and
that was...
>With the number of cross-platform users on this list, A
>discussion of Apple on Intel or Alpha (perhaps aside from
>rumor-mongering) is both interesting and relevant.
Marc, I know you are trying to do what's best for the list. I've
been in the communications business for a lot of years, though,
and I've come to accept that you just can't make everybody happy
-- as much as you'd like to. People WILL sign off the list no
matter what you do or what position you take on any topic. The
vocal ones will sign off with a complaint -- it doesn't mean the
majority of the list feels the same way any more than a focus
group provides you quantitative research data.
I stay on the list because I find it a *valuable* resource. Do
you think I read every posting? Of course not. I read the ones
that are relevant to issues that I'm dealing with or with
questions about which I may be able to contribute. There have
been entire digests of which I have scanned the headers and
deleted without reading. I would be willing to venture the
majority of your subscribers do something similar. In fact, I'd
be shocked if more than a small percentage read all of a digest
(except those rare single postings).
This week you'll lose someone who is irritated by my stand on
this issue. *Next* week, you'll lose someone who is irritated by
yours. Most will simply unsubscribe, and you'll never know why.
Accept it. This is THE Windows-MacOS cooperation list after all,
and all related opinions and ideas should be tolerated. That's in
the spirit of the internet.
It would be great if everyone could be a diplomat. But then
that's just not the real world. People are passionate and
participate in the list over the long haul because they feel a
certain sense of ownership and belonging. I know this is the only
list *I* feel that way about. And I post it rather than send it
off-list *because* it is relevant to the future of the list.
Remember, Marc, the value of this list is the concept you brought
to it to discuss cross-platform issues -- the *equity*, though,
is your membership. Not your casual members. Your diehards.
I guarantee you, someone is reading this shaking their heads and
saying, "what a nut" (referring to me of course, and probably in
harsher terms). At the same time I can also guarantee you someone
else is nodding their head up and down, thinking something
similar about you. The point is, they're getting the message, and
making up their own minds. To maintain the equity in your list,
just accept it. Or risk creating something bland and without
character that some people will love because it's that way -- but
your real equity members will hate for the same reason. It's up
to you...
DAVID
P.S. Of course your third option is to eliminate chance from the
equation altogether. Hire some professional writers on the
subject. Be or get an editor, and publish a for-profit
newsletter. There's probably a market for that, too. I'd
subscribe to an advertising-supported newsletter on this topic.
But it wouldn't be as much fun!
----------
> Subject: list traffic
> From: Marc Bizer <mlbizer@mail.utexas.edu>
> Date: Thu, 15 Apr 1999 16:17:52 -0500
> Mime-Version: 1.0
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"
>
> On 4/15/99 at 11:36 AM -0700, David McKnight wrote:
>> I've said it before, if someone doesn't want to read a message, they
>> should simply skip over it. Seems to be the obvious and easy answer.
>
> I'm sorry, but there are many subscribers to the list who simply do
> not like to have their mailboxes flooded with messages with very
> little new content, musings on vaporware, oblique attacks on Steve
> Jobs, etc. They don't want to have to set up special filters or have
> to continually use the delete key. I know because they have told me
> when they have unsubscribed. And we have lost some valuable list
> members.
>
> --Marc
* Windows-MacOS Cooperation List *
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