On Fri, 16 May 1997, Ashita, He Who Stays Crunchy in Milk! wrote:

----Damon Casale  wrote:

Consider:  what would happen if we divided the FFML into four or five
separate lists?  Not based on content, but just to get the volume of
people down?  We could still archive the posts, and 100% Anime
Fanfiction could be the repository of the fics from *all* of those
separate lists, for those who aren't quite satisfied with the fanfics
being posted to whatever single list they're subbed to.

Everyone would be free to pick one (or two, or whatever) sublist to
subscribe to, and get to know people.  Granted, this might tend to
make things a little cliqueish, but I think the benefits GREATLY
outweigh the pitfalls.

Comments?

Honestly, I'm of two minds of this.
On one hand, it WOULD cut down on the Spam and overall mail generated.

Actually, believe it or not, I'm hoping it will *increase* the spam
level, but with "spam" that is of a social interaction sort.

On the other hand, it would also cut down on personal interactivity,
sharing of ideas, and as was aforementioned, cause cliques (not that a
group of FFMLers is already, ne?).

I disagree regarding personal interactivity.  We really would have more
on a smaller list than we do now.  I don't feel that I know very many of
the people on the FFML, as it is now, very well at all.  The only people
I tend to recognize are the old-timers I knew from a while back, back
when the FFML was smaller and we took the time to get to know people.

Sharing of ideas?  It would, and it wouldn't.  There would be more
chatter.  People would be able to follow the idea threads much more
easily.  BUT, there would be less diversity of ideas.  How much less?
Not very much, I don't think, and I'm very serious about that.  I think
that around 100 people will generate a fairly diverse amount of
brainstorming, and that around that level of people will feel
comfortable sharing, without getting lost in too much volume.

Case in point:  I asked for assistance a couple of days ago in regards
to foreign words.  Only one person responded to my plea (thanks
again!).
Now, I realize that one possibility may be simply that my request may
have gotten caught in the Delete-o-Rama that some people have to do to
prevent overloading their mail servers (the fact that the words
weren't in Japanese may not have helped either).

Not only that, but it's also very likely a human bandwidth problem.
Most people simply don't have the time to sift through all of that, and
so they delete it without reading it if it doesn't look too important.
I know I do.

I may not have
gotten ANY response if we were in say, five separate listings.  Other
people have the same ideas, and some have the answers.  That may prove
to be a bit of a difficulty as we spread out a bit.
One way around this would be to create a multi-list address to send
over the various lists (but that could end up being mega-spam all over
again).

How about instead, post it to the one (or two, or whatever) list(s)
you're on, and if there's no response, post it to the others?

The information exchange, transfer of ideas, and socializing is one of
the prime benefits of a single list.  The reduction of overload, and
the quicker turnaround time in mail is the bennie of multi-lists.

Agreed, except see above concerning socializing.  It's just plain
*easier* on a smaller list.

I do, however, wholeheartedly agree on the concept of using the 100%
Fanfic page to store the actual fics.  That would provide the needed
hits to save said page, and would also assist in various
loading/downloading associated with peoples' various EMail systems.

*nod*  The only problem being limited access to graphical browsers.
It's not *very* limited, but some people only have shell accounts.  I
*used* to, although that's no longer a problem.  ^_^

I realize this is all theoretical at this point, so let my opinions
stand as that...opinions.

Same here.

Besides, I like chatting with everybody...whether they're the kids,
the college folks, or the "Over 40" club.  We're all otaku and
authors, and that's what really binds us, ne?

True, but as I said, I simply *can't* chat with everyone on the FFML, as
it is now.  There's just too many people out there.  I haven't had much
encouragement to try to get to know anyone for over a year.

Damon Casale, damoo@carmelnet.com
Spam, spam!  WONDERFUL spam!  ^_^