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 In a message dated 5/12/2009 4:42:31 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, U.Matzat@tue.nl writes: On 11 May 2009 at 20:40, air-l-request@listserv.aoir.o wrote:
Message: 3 Date: Mon, 11 May 2009 09:25:34 -0400 From: Alex Halavais <alex@halavais.net> Subject: Re: [Air-L] Change of default reply setting on air-l To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Message-ID: <e0fe0c740905110625n71f690dfle9e0775ed700d1cc@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
May I ask a naive question? Several have suggested that changing the list to default to reply-to-author will have significant detrimental effects on the community, ranging from harm to ruin. Some have indicated that this is a well-researched fact.
I have done a study on the determinants of sending answers/providing information in academic emailing lists. While I was interested in other things, one of the many control variables indicates whether the default reply is to the group. This control variable has a significant positive effect on the likelihood of sending an answer to the whole list. The study compares the posting behavior of researchers in 47 academic emailing lists over a period of 2 months. For more details see Table 2 in the following: Matzat, U. (2009). "The Embeddedness of Academic Online Groups in Offline Social Networks: Reputation Gain as a Stimulus for Online Discussion Participation?" in: International Sociology, 24, 1: 63-92. Nevertheless I prefer the new setting (but not the sudden way it was implemented). Although I am on digest, it is hard for me to follow the discussions and only some of the postings are valuable to me. Best regards, Uwe _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/ **************A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1221322936x1201367173/aol?redir=http... =Mayfooter51209NO115)