[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] For discussion: process for requesting a new mailing list

[Kathy Lussier]

Hi,

I'm more than a month late with my input.

I like using the OLPC guideline as a starting point. I think it has 
reasonable, common-sense guidelines for starting and continuing a list.

The OLPC guideline of a minimum of ten initial subscribers seems 
reasonable, with one caveat. As I was writing an email today to the 
Outreach Committee, which does not have a list, it occurred to me we 
have two different types of lists in the Evergreen community. We have 
our interest group lists, where people performing the same types of 
tasks are asking questions, sharing tips, bringing attention to bugs, 
etc. I think 10 is a good minimum for starting interest group lists.

The other type of list is one for a committee or group doing project 
work. The web team, DIG, and EOB lists are some obvious examples, but we 
also have others like the conference committee list or the eg-sites 
list. The eg-sites list is used at the time we select the next year's 
conference site and has fewer than ten subscribers, and we may have 
other groups like that one that will need to request a list. For those 
lists, I think we should employ some flexibility in the minimum number 
of initial subscribers.

I also agree we should have a policy for closing dead lists. My concern 
is not the number of messages posted in a given year, but whether those 
messages are getting attention and responses. IMO, the problem with the 
former sys-admin list wasn't so much the low activity, but the fact that 
new people trying out Evergreen were posting questions to the list and 
getting no response. If a list gets two or three original posts in a 
year, but the poster gets answers from those posts, I see no harm in 
continuing the list. Likewise, if a list gets 20 posts in a year, but 
half of them are legitimate questions that remain unanswered, while 
another five are off topic, we might consider closing down the list and 
redirecting questions on that topic to the general list.

As an example, the evergreen-reports list has had fewer than 10 messages 
over the past year. However, when people post there, they almost always 
get an answer. I think 10 messages might be a good threshold to evaluate 
whether a lists should be removed, but we might say other factors will 
be taken into consideration before a list is closed.

Speaking of closing lists, do you think we should close the Gsoc2012 
list? :)

Kathy


On 06/15/2017 12:32 PM, Rogan Hamby wrote:
> I would bump the number up higher than 10 but in general I think it 
> sounds sane.  +1
>
> Rogan Hamby
>
> Data and Project Analyst
>
> Equinox Open Library Initiative
>
> phone:  1-877-OPEN-ILS (673-6457)
>
> email:  rogan at EquinoxInitiative.org
>
> web: http://EquinoxInitiative.org
>
> On Thu, Jun 15, 2017 at 11:25 AM, Galen Charlton 
> <gmc at equinoxinitiative.org <mailto:gmc at equinoxinitiative.org>> wrote:
>
>     Hi,
>
>     Now that the evergreen-acq and evergreen-circ mailing lists exist, I
>     think we may be in a good place to revisit Kathy's proposal to define
>     a process for requesting new mailing lists:
>
>     http://libmail.georgialibraries.org/pipermail/open-ils-general/2017-April/013854.html
>     <http://libmail.georgialibraries.org/pipermail/open-ils-general/2017-April/013854.html>
>
>     My own feeling is that the OLPC process [1] would be a good basis with
>     the addition of a policy for closing dead lists. For example, we could
>     establish a guideline that once a year every list will get checked and
>     those that have been around at least a full year but have had fewer
>     than 10 messages during the past 12 months are subject to being closed
>     up.
>
>     [1] http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Mailing_lists#Starting_a_new_list
>     <http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Mailing_lists#Starting_a_new_list>
>
>     Regards,
>
>     Galen
>     --
>     Galen Charlton
>     Infrastructure and Added Services Manager
>     Equinox Open Library Initiative
>     phone:  1-877-OPEN-ILS (673-6457)
>     email:  gmc at equinoxInitiative.org
>     web: https://equinoxInitiative.org
>     direct: +1 770-709-5581 <tel:%2B1%20770-709-5581>
>     cell: +1 404-984-4366 <tel:%2B1%20404-984-4366>
>
>

-- 
Kathy Lussier
Project Coordinator
Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative
(508) 343-0128
klussier at masslnc.org
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://libmail.georgialibraries.org/pipermail/open-ils-general/attachments/20170802/a9ef75f1/attachment.html>