LAURIE SOLOMON wrote:
> But if your analysis is correct and traffic is negligable because most of
> the knowledgable users have adequate knowledge and are using their older
> models of scanner and not keeping up with the newer models, then
> eventually
> there will not be a group of informed contributing subscribers around to
> sustain the list as a dedicated reference forum or to provide that
> expertise
> tommorrow.
All true. You can't escape entropy...
> There are two schools of thought about this; I take the other school and
> bind precisely focussed lists without OT to be both boring and lacking in
> any feeling of community among the subscribers who remain impersonal
> anonymous entities or institutional memory since members tend to treat
> the
> list as a technical support line only and lurk until they need something
> but
> rarely contribute information or feel obligated to do so.
Also entirely true, successful lists are communities and social places too.
Which is why I've always tried to use a light touch with OT stuff, only
intervening when I start getting complaints about excessive rudeness or
pedantry.
> People who make up the the sustaining contributors to any list tend to
> leave
> even if the list is useful when the list becomes one where the same
> issues
> and questions repeatedly come up, the same discussion recirculate over
> and
> over repetitively, and nothing new and interesting is introduced.
> Ironically, it is OT discussions that add the spice and novelty to the
> list
> conversation that keeps the list alive and interesting to those who tend
> to
> be the sustaining contributors since they frequently are the ones who are
> giving out most of the information and rarely need much from the list by
> way
> of useful information having been there frequently in the past and
> acquired
> an adequate library of useful information already.
Yup. Balance is essential. But successful lists start from a point of
fulfilling a need moving eventually to a fulfilled need. The arrow of time.
> With respect to diluting the list and digital imaging being a large topic
> that grows like topsy, you do not have to cover the total workflow. The
> list could be a dedicated conduit to the topic of digital capturing of
> imaging and restricted in its focus and scope to that portion of the
> workflow so as to cover digital capturing processes utilizing scanners
> and/or cameras. The processes used by scanners and cameras are very
> similar
> with digital cameras being more like digital scanners that any other
> hardware in the imaging workflow. Thus, there is probably some
> commonality
> in issues and questions that come up with respect to the two.
I agree there is. Familiarity with scanning (and film photography) is a big
help with digicam workflow. But I dunno how you limit (self-limit)
discussion to capture and workflow, without digressing into specifics that
are already well handled elsewhere (dpreview, robgalbraith etc).
If someone can come up with a formula for a wider-ranging list than
filmscanners that somehow uniquely addresses crossover topics that are
likely to be of interest to the same community, I'll gladly provide one and
simply autojoin everyone. It won't fly though, unless there is a USP that
grabs enough people. If that USP is 'talk digicam with the same group of
people', or 'anything vaguely photographic with the same group of people'
fine, or even 'anything including Art's Toyota with the same group of
people' ;-) we can try it, see if it flies, and anyone who can't stand it
can run away. But I don't want to take the muddling step of widening
filmscanners itself, it's too widely known (and entirely the wrong title:).
> >I'm wary of jumping in
> >with a reinvention of epson_inkjet because that list required industrial
> >scale servers and bandwidth to sustain its traffic levels.
>
> Besides there already is an Epson Printers list on Yahoo Groups which
> has a
> subscriber list larger than the old Leben Epson Inkjet list as well as
> several specialty lists dedicated to black and white inkjet printing anD
> Epson Wide Format Inkjets.
Quite, though I'm not in them because I have inkjet sorted to my
satisfaction, for now. I'm in lists that deal with specific areas that are
live areas of interest for me for now, and dip into some web
forums from time to time, pick-and-mix, ad hoc. With such tremendous
volumes of information whizzing around the net, and far too few hours in
the day, the problem has shifted from 'nowhere to talk' to 'far too many
places to keep up with'. Really, if there's going to be yet another one, it
has to spot a niche nobody else has else it'll just turn yellow and the
leaves will drop off.
Regards
Tony Sleep -
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