Hey.
You don't know me. I've never submitted before. I discovered moq.org a few months ago, and was excited to find a site where discussion of Pirsig's works was ongoing. I am still sorry that I discovered Zen and Lila too late too have participated in the Lila Squad.
Per the request in the FAQ, I subscribed to the lists as an observer until I felt like I had a feel for things. I was dismayed at the amount of material suddenly pouring into my inbox. Jumping mid-thread into an unmoderated discussion was just plain daunting, and checking my email once or twice a week wasn't enough to keep up with everything on the unmoderated list.
So I unsubscribed from the unmoderated list, hoping the moderated mailings would allow me to participate (and observe) at a more convenient pace. I was surprised to see, suddenly, how *few* messages were arriving in my inbox.
Obviously, the moderated discussion list is an evolutionary dead end if no one posts to it. I guess in MOQ terms, it was a Dynamic choice that mangaged (apparently) to become too static, and now is dying (dead?).
And now that I've managed to restate the obvious (in a mere four paragraphs, even!), I have some musings. Obviously, veterans of moq.org are going to view this development differently than newcomers like myself. While I am struggling to keep my head above water, so to speak, others may view the elimination of the moderated list as productive weed-pulling. So the first question is, am I the only newbie around? How many "veterans" are actively participating in *either* list? And at what rate do we get new participants?
It seems to me that the moderated list is a boon and a blessing to a site that is attracting newcomers at a reasonable rate. But if most of the true MOQers out there have already found moq.org, then obviously the moderated list is going to be an excersize in futility. The majority of the subscribers will have exhausted their pool of static musings and would now be on to the Dynamics of unmoderated discussion (where the really good stuff happens - IF you can keep up!).
If (and this seems to be the case) the majority of subscribers are more interested in unmoderated discussion, elimination of the moderated discussion is quite reasonable. Alternately, it could be used as a "topic dump" when the unmoderated group comes across a subject that demands expansion - someone could move to "shift this topic to the moderated list" so as to keep potentially stagnant waters out of unmoderated conversation.
I have one question to which I see no clear answer. What about latecomers? I feel it would be a shame to discourage new blood, though newcomers may be few and far between. The unmoderated list is quite daunting. Sadly, the moderated list is all but nonexistent.
That's my two newbie cents. Hope I've managed to follow all the forms... (^_^)
Later,
Kenny
"A little nonsense every now and then is cherished by the wisest men." --Quoted by Willy Wonka
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat Aug 17 2002 - 16:03:33 BST