[KLUG Members] KLUG List FAQ

[Bruce Smith]

Advocacy (formally os-discuss) and Hardware are for threads that have
a hard time dying.  It's okay to ask a "how do I configure my SCSI
controller" to the members list, but when the thread degrades to
"my Buslogic is better than your Adaptec" and "your Buslogic sucks"
then it's time to move it off the main list to the hardware list.

We recently had a long thread about the best hardware for Linux
which prompted the hardware list.  

The same goes for Linux vs. other operating systems, which can 
quickly turn into a long heated thread which not everybody wishes 
to read.  Then it will be taken to Advocacy, if not there already.

The novice list is nice because it allows new users to ask questions
that may have been ask before without bothering all 170 people on 
the main list.

We normally provide lists for special projects which a small number
of KLUG members are involved with to discuss business of the SIG.
Hence the "Inschool", "PHPSIG", "Speakers", and some private lists
which don't show up for general use, like the list for the people
working on the Boogies project and the private list for officers.

Some of our lists have been a success, some have not.  Others
we recently created have yet to prove their success or failure.
We are still learning and experimenting with different lists.
We are definitely not perfect, but over time we hope to find a 
group of lists that work for us.


> Do we need 7 lists?
> 
> At the rate by which we seem to be adding and modifying our lists we'll soon
> have a specialized list for every topic we can come up with and then negate
> the need for the members list.
>
> As a rule of thumb LUG lists generate a lot of e-mail.  The Davis, CA LUG
> was known to generate 100 messages a day before lunch at times.
> 
> The creation of the hardware list is particularly troublesome to me.  For
> example which list should the question "How do I configure my ADUPTEC
> Ultra/Super/Gigantic/Wide 33/66/99 SCSI RAID Controler card under Mandrake
> 7.1?"
> 
> Now the original post should probably go to the members list since it's a
> configuration question.  But what if I've only been using Linux for 3 weeks,
> does that make it a newbie question?  Now what if someone who thinks
> ADUPTEC's boards and thier driver support sucks might think that switching
> controler cards is what I should do, so would that response go to the
> Advocacy (formerly the taste's great/less filing list) List or the hardware
> discuss list?
> 
> I think you can see where I'm going with this.  I see the members list as
> the forum by which members of KLUG can discuss what ever topic they feel is
> important enough to discuss.  Seven lists seems a tad excessive.


--------------------------------------------
Bruce Smith                bruce@armintl.com
System Administrator / Network Administrator
Armstrong International, Inc.
Three Rivers, Michigan  49093  USA
http://www.armstrong-intl.com/
--------------------------------------------