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Re: [ARSCLIST] ruminations on the ARSClist-was: message board vs. listserv
Thanks, David: an excellent statement !
Best, Richard
At 01:36 AM 12/13/2005, you wrote:
As of this evening there are 633 subscribers to this list and from my
discussions with other ARSC members most expect a high signal-to-noise
ratio (hopefully at least CD quality) from this list. As George B-N
pointed out, we are approaching or have passed 10,000 posts to this list
since it was begun back in 1999. That's quite a milestone considering
we've never had a flamewar or a mass exodus and the number of list members
grows slowly but steadily.
I'm not speaking for the ARSC Board here, but the Board has discussed the
pros and cons of message boards vs. listservs for precisely the reasons
that have been brought up. Since this is a listserv--with the faults that
come with it--we should all keep in mind that our posts go out to all 633
people on this list and that everybody has to hit the delete key for every
frivolous post and the more often they have to hit delete, the less likely
they are to stick around and contribute. Obviously not all posts can be
interesting to everybody but we should always try to give some thought as
to whether a reply should be on or off list and to make sure that
something substantive is being added to the discussion. We should also
keep in mind that the majority of subscribers don't post or post
infrequently. In my opinion these people are also an important part of
this forum and we should post with the full membership of the list in
mind--not just the frequent posters--because when they chime in (often
offlist) with the answer to your question, you are really glad they are on
the list.
The beauty of ARSC is the huge variety of interests and specializations of
the membership but it also means that not everything is of interest to
everybody. ARSC is the only organization I know of that intentionally
brings together the archivists/librarians, the scholars, the technicians,
and the collectors in a given field. When the ARSC Board voted to set up
this list in Madison in 1998 it was set up with the intent to have a forum
for ARSC members to exchange information at a professional level that was
not encumbered with the chit-chat found on collectors' lists. I think
we've largely succeeded, but it takes effort on the part of all
subscribers to post intelligently and with restraint in order to keep it going.
Lastly, this is the ARSClist, and while it is an open forum, it reflects
the organization and membership of ARSC. If you aren't a member and have
found yourself here, please consider joining and participating in the
broader activities of the organization.
Anyway, I've used more than my share of bandwidth in the last few days, so
I'll shut up now for a couple of weeks....
David Seubert