Date   : Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:10:40 -0600
From   : jules.richardson99@... (Jules Richardson)
Subject: Who the message is from...

Michael Firth wrote:
> If the majority view is that the current mailing list doesn't meet most 
> peoples needs, wouldn't most people move to a new list that did?

[reply - double-click - delete - delete - triple-click - type - click]

Perhaps. I think first I'd like to confirm that there's not a good technical 
reason for this list being broken, though. If the list software is broken by 
design, rather than it being a simple "admin" setting, then I can understand a 
reluctance on the part of the maintainer to move to new list software, set it 
up, test it, and migrate everyone across. But then if that is the reason, I'm 
surprised the list maintainer hasn't said so!

If there's no showstopping technical reason though then it seems a bit bad 
that the maintainer doesn't bend to the will of the vast [vocal*] majority, 
assuming it was a simple change on their part.

* The people who contribute to the list are what matter, in my book. I don't 
care how many 'silent' readers there are on the list - if they're not posting 
then they're not affected by these problems and so their opinion doesn't seem 
particularly relevant. In other words "only 30 out of 1000 subscribers have 
complained" would be a meaningless reason to keep things as they are...

The last communication I remember from the list maintainer was over 2 years 
ago I think, when they were migrating to the new lists.cloud9.co.uk address 
and saying that the old address would cease working eventually. That latter 
doesn't seem to have happened as I still see posts to the old address 
sometimes - which gives the impression that the list has simply been abandoned 
and left to run itself. That also of course raises the concern that it might 
suddenly vanish without warning one day, and that moving to a list that *is* 
actively maintained is perhaps better for the community...

cheers

Jules