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UKHA seems stuck at 4 since i subscribed a
while
ago, which i think . is a good thing :)
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, April 12, 2002 11:18
PM
Subject: [ukha_d] The Natural Life
Cycle
of Mailing Lists
I got this from another list and thought it was appropriate
to
ukha_d.
The Natural Life Cycle of
Mailing Lists
Kat Nagel - KatNagel@xxxxxxx
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).
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).
Here's the original URL for those interested in more:- http://www.rider.edu/users/suler/psycyber/lifelist.html
Vince
PS.
Any votes for what stage ukha_d is on?
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