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Frank,
Is this off topic because it�s not about navigation, or is it ok because
it�s about the list itself? 

Some of the other lists could benefit from this, so I am copying it for
future use.
All the best,
Robert Gainer


>From: Frank Reed 
>Reply-To: Navigation Mailing List 
>To: NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM
>Subject: Re: Life cycle of a List
>Date: Sun, 6 Mar 2005 01:14:30 EST
>
>
>"The natural life cycle of mailing lists.
>Every list seems to go through the same cycle:
>1. Initial enthusiasm (people introduce themselves, and
>gush a lot about  how wonderful it is to find kindred
>souls).
>2. Evangelism (people moan about how few folks are posting
>to the list,  and brainstorm recruitment strategies).
>3. Growth (more and more people join, more and more lengthy
>threads  develop, occasional off-topic threads pop up).
>4. Community (lots of threads, some more relevant than
>others; lots of  information and advice is exchanged;
>experts help other experts as well as  less experienced
>colleagues; friendships develop; people tease each other;
>newcomers are welcomed with generosity and patience;
>everyone -- newbie  and expert alike -- feels comfortable
>asking questions, suggesting answers,  and sharing
>opinions).
>5. Discomfort with diversity (the number of messages
>increases  dramatically; not every thread is fascinating to
>every reader; people start  complaining about the
>signal-to-noise ratio; person 1 threatens to quit if
>*other* people don't limit discussion to person 1's pet
>topic; person 2  agrees with person 1; person 3 tells 1 & 2
>to lighten up; more bandwidth  is wasted complaining about
>off-topic threads than is used for the threads  themselves;
>everyone gets annoyed).
>6.
>a. Smug complacency and stagnation (the purists flame
>everyone who  asks an 'old' question or responds with humor
>to a serious post; newbies are  rebuffed; traffic drops to a
>doze-producing level of a few minor issues; all  interesting
>discussions happen by private email and are limited to a
>few  participants; the purists spend lots of time
>self-righteously congratulating  each other on keeping
>off-topic threads off the list).
>-OR-
>b. Maturity (a few people quit in a huff; the rest of the
>participants  stay near stage 4, with stage 5 popping up
>briefly every few weeks; many  people wear out their second
>or third 'delete' key, but the list lives  contentedly ever
>after). "
>Not new. But always entertaining...  :-)
>
>-FER
>42.0N  87.7W, or 41.4N  72.1W.
>www.HistoricalAtlas.com/lunars

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