Hmm. Well, I see that this ML has reached #5 again... 
Maybe cause the list was down for a bit, ne?
Monica remembers when we went through this sort of stuff when the Passion
Spice/Sig Wars were going around...

BTW, I've noticed that WW is keeping rather quiet about this... and that
splitting MLs never really work, unless there are active members who are on
both lists constantly forwarding... or whatever. 

Splitting is falling into the realm of 6A in an extreme case...

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).

--

Monica
-----
Monica/Akira-chan/Heero/Hayama/Naga/Kircheis no Miko- Proud TABBE! Member
monica@pipeline.com - http://www.pipeline.com/~monica/ -fics, pics, tapes!
Loves-CLAMP,LoGH,MB,RKen,Z/B,Gundam,EVA,KoDoCha,Subaru,Kircheis,Izumi,Riki
"Tell Annerose-sama that Sieg kept his promise..." - Kircheis