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list life-cycle
Greg Finnegan (finnegan@HUSC.HARVARD.EDU)
Fri, 9 Feb 1996 09:39:07 -0500
Given the current level of discourse on ANTHRO-L, the following
(semi-)facetious posting seems appropriate. I picked it off an ornithology
list, where it was reposted from an education listserv.
>THE NATURAL LIFE CYCLE OF MAILING LISTS
>Every list seems to go through the same cycle:
>1. Initial enthusiasm (people introduce themselves, and gush alot 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).
>6a. 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
>6b. 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).
--------------------------
Gregory A. Finnegan, PhD
Associate Librarian for Public Services
and Head of Reference
Tozzer Library
Harvard University
21 Divinity Avenue
Cambridge MA 02138-2089
617-495-2253 fax 617-496-2741
gregory_finnegan@harvard.edu
"For whatever is truly wondrous and fearful in man, never yet was put into
words or books." MOBY-DICK, chapter 110.
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