I mostly lurk on this list, but what Bob says is true for me. I found AIR by tripping over this email list. I find a lot of things that way, though, and don't return to most of them. I joined the list and will join the organization because of the lively discussion on this list. Since I can't afford to join endless organizations, the one that will go in order for me to join this one is another organization dealing with a very similar area which has disappointed me by having almost no communication other than annual meetings. It doesn't make sense for organizations that focus even partly on new media communication to limit communication using new media. I run probably a dozen email lists. The largest have maybe 500 members each; the oldest is about 10 years old. All are set to reply to the group, and I don't remember the last time we had someone post something to the lists accidentally. I do have a policy of putting new members on moderate for 90 days. If they're going to make that mistake, or return the entire digest to the list, they generally do it during that time. I can catch it, ask if they meant to send it to the list, and remove it if they didn't. I don't see too many people do it twice. And these are not internet-savvy folks. Most of those lists happen to be on yahoo, where I can delete individual archived messages if I need to. Though, again, can't remember the last time I did. YMMV, TeryG On Tue, May 12, 2009 at 1:03 PM, <RBerkman@aol.com> wrote:
Bottom line seems to be that if we agree with the premise that:
seeing the back and forth discussions on this list is its primary value and the reason why people subscribe (and perhaps even for some their entire interest in AIR!), then removing this value would be even a higher "disaster" than a lawsuit, etc. (and much more probable), as it will defeat nearly the entire purpose of this valued entity!
Bob Berkman Associate Professor Media Studies & Film The New School New York NY