RE: sublists

["Dan Sinclair" <sinclair@prospro.com>]

I agree with Phil, there are many good reasons for keeping a generic
"Audi/quattro" list.  In my experience, most of the questions I've posted to
the list have been answered by folks who don't own an Audi 90 - they own
5000s, A4s, UrQs, and everything in between.  I'd hate to see that go, but
if sub-lists are created, and listers make an exodus to sub-lists, I think
I'd be foolish not to do so myself.

Further, I realize the time/volume issue is a serious one.  I was off email
for 24 hours, and this morning I pulled 107 q-list messages.  Like most
mornings, I found myself deleting message after message without even reading
the content, because I simply don't have time to read through 107 messages.
I suspect I'm not the only person who does this.  I'm certain that some of
those messages contain useful information that pertain to my car, but
without reading every post, there's simply no way to know.  Additionally,
I'm certain there were questions in those messages that I could have
contributed to, but again, I delete many messages based on the subject-line
alone to save time.  In this regard, quantity is working against quality.

It's a catch 22 really.  I think the quality of posts and contributions is
going to suffer either way, whether we do nothing, or do something, there's
no right answer.

As for how the sub-lists could be organized, I second Bernard's suggestion
that we create sublists through Dan Simoes, or at least giving him the
opportunity.  I'd vote for the largest logical subdivisions first, then
determine if more specific divisions are necessary. Divisions that are too
specific will most assuredly kill the overlap discussions/contributions all
together and would be difficult to consolidate later if the smaller lists
were too narrow in scope.  4000/80/90/CQ and 5000/100/200/S would be a
logical break.  New/old might work too.

Finally, to answer the "where should Phil Payne go with his urQ?" -
definitely the 4000/80/90/CQ group.  No rationale other than "that's the
list I'd be on, so I'd sure like Phil to be there as well..." =)  Sorta gets
to the heart of the matter doesn't it...

-Dan

Dan Sinclair
1988 Audi 90, 71K mi.
Walla Walla, WA
Pics&details: http://131.107.68.28/a4.org/registry/details.asp?car=761

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-quattro@audifans.com [mailto:owner-quattro@audifans.com]On
Behalf Of Dan Simoes
Sent: Monday, June 28, 1999 4:50 AM
To: quattro@audifans.com
Subject: sublists


Since the topic has been raised...

Sublists are very much on my mind.  These are the issues:

- "I have limited time and don't want to read 1000 messages and have to
find the 10 that pertain to my vehicle"
- "I have a new A4/A6/TT - who cares about Pentosin?"
- "The spirit of the list will be lost if we go to sublists"

The obivous issue is, how do we grow?  The 20v, Scars, and V8 lists have
all become successful, and have probably developed their own cameraderie.
So it can be done.  But, should it?

One idea I have is to segment the lists something like this:

several "type" lists: 4k/80/90/CQ, 5k/100/200/S4/S6.  But, where does that
leave the urQ?  On the 4k list, or on the latter, since it uses a turbo
engine?  The real danger in segmenting is that valuable knowledge will
be lost.  Phil will read the urQ list but why should he read the 5k
list, since he doesn't have one (applying the logic of those recently crying
for the type 44 list)

Still, segmenting can be done, if we figure out where to draw broad circles.
"Old" cars vs "new"?

I certainly want to have a general announcements list, where people who
are browing the archives via the web can join this so they may post to the
lists.  The list will probably be moderated, low traffic, and used for
one-time annoucements of important things, social events, etc.

Another sublist idea is for a "help" list.  This is the way it would work -
those with "fix it" experience agree to act as experts.  People may send
a detailed request for help to the list, but no replies will
go to the list.  Instead, all replies go to the poster, who will collect
the replies and collate them into a summary.  This summary is then sent to
the list and archived for later use.
Of course, most of this info is already in the archives, it just needs to
be fished out (and I am working on that as well).

Your feedback is welcome.

| Dan |
--
Dan Simoes
dans@audifans.com/dans@vwfans.com
www.audifans.com/www.vwfans.com