subjects appropriate for this list

[Brett Dikeman]

At 9:53 AM -0400 4/17/02, Peter Schulz wrote:
>Brett:
>
>And just the other day your were concerned about folks unsubbing?

No, I was concerned about people who felt it was my job to handle
their unsubscription requests.  It addressed that by explaining that
there was a web interface available to use for unsubscribing.


>>At 1:56 PM -0400 4/15/02, AUDIJIM at aol.com wrote:
>>>Hello,
>>>
>>>I have joined this list because I own a 1987 Audi 5000 cs TQ. I
>>>know it's not
>>>a 20 valve, but I mainly joined for other similarities between out cars. I
>>>tried looking into Audi 100.de but the translation page is limiting for the
>>>information I was looking for.
>>
>>
>>I'd recommend subscribing to the main quattro list, not here...
>>There are a LOT of differences between your car and the 200q20v...far
>>too numerous to list.  Most folks are bound to forget you don't have
>>a 200q20v, and might give information, advice, etc that's not
>>appropriate to your car.  Could at the least cause confusion,
>>hopefully not much more...
>>
>>
>Did you ever think that there may be a non 1991 200 owner that has valuable
>experience/recommendations on common Type 44/or S-car parts that they want
>to share with us 200 owners?

Of course,  we have a bunch.  -All- that was meant by my post was
that the quattro list would be more helpful to a 5000 owner.  After
quickly reading the first paragraph, it seemed to me like the guy
didn't realize there were other lists like the quattro list, since
this wouldn't normally be the first choice for a 5000 owner as far as
a list to belong to; maybe he came straight to the 200q20v
information page from a list member's homepage, or a search engine.
I was trying to be -helpful-.  Note the use of the word "recommend",
and my friendly explanation of why I was making the
recommendation(which did NOT read "This is a list for 200q20v owners,
you don't have one, go away.")  Yeah, so I missed the bit about him
planning on dropping the AAN in.  Sue me.


>Or maybe all of us 1991 200 20v listers also need to sub to the main
>quattro list and the s-car list.

Actually, a large number of listers -are- subscribed to the quattro
list as well.  And yes, actually, the 200q20v list WAS originally
designed to accompany the main list, NOT replace it for 200q20v
owners(as was Dan's concern in '98 when I started the list at Rob
Winchell's request; he was worried 200q20v owners would unsubscribe
from the main list.)  I can't find the original announcement emails
or the discussion that resulted since it was so very long ago(and
4/98 seems to be missing from the archives), but from what I
remember, I encouraged people to stay subscribed to the main list, as
many did until the volume of email became unmanageable, and as many
still do belong(myself included.)  I seem to recall the list
description, before the switch to the Audifans server, read something
like "this list is for discussion of issues specific to the 200q20v
and its engine."

   The whole idea was to provide a shelter for people who wanted a
lower traffic, more focused discussion list than the quattro list;
you could, if need be, tune out the main list but not miss something
200q20v specific(another way to look at it is that it separated out
the 200q20v specific content so you wouldn't miss it in the sea of
quattro list emails.)  The second purpose was to allow people to
-ask- 200q20v specific questions and catch the attention of a lot of
200q20v owners(since things tend to get lost in the main qlist
traffic); this is reflected by the list still, to this day, being
open to anyone to post regardless of whether they are subscribed or
not.

   If the 200q20v list turns into a general car discussion list, what
is to separate the 200q20v list from the main quattro list in terms
of both identity and traffic volume, and yes, as you asked, what
exactly -would- be the purpose of this list?

Note that with the switch to Mailman list management software from
Majordomo, it is now possible to subscribe to the main list but check
the "nomail" option in your preferences; then you can post your
general questions to the main list, which helps keep traffic here to
200q20v specific issues.  People can of course browse the archives
and search them, as well.  Many topics which come up here and are of
a general nature can be at least partially answered by content
already in the archives.  Yes, the search capabilities are pretty
bad, which is why I just spent most of my weekend working on a new
archive storage system.

Brett
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