[clug] Scope of list

[Daniel Pittman]

Robert Edwards <bob at cs.anu.edu.au> writes:
> Daniel Pittman wrote:
>> Robert Edwards <bob at cs.anu.edu.au> writes:
>>
>>> A thought of mine (so I'll fork a new thread...):
>>>
>>> CLUG is the Canberra Linux Users Group, by which _I_ understand: So this
>>> mailing list should be targetted at people [in Canberra, mostly]

[...]

> Time to defend my thought...

Gah.  The last couple of weeks have messed with my head; I had a twitch of
"...but I didn't /mean/ to attack you" when you said ‘defend’ rather than
‘discuss’ or whatever.  *sigh*


> If I wanted to know about issues common to Canberra and Melbourne, I could
> read the Linux Australia mailing list. That is (partly) what it is there
> for. Or I'd look up the archives of the LUV lists. This is the CLUG list and
> it is called the CLUG list for a reason.
>
> I don't remember if we have met: please excuse my forgetfulness if we have.

I doubt it, as unlike...

> Jacinta, on the other hand, has presented, with Paul (not that that is
> relevant...), at CLUG-supported PERL user meetings here in Canberra
> (which I have attended) and so _I_ would definitely consider her as
> someone welcome to contribute to CLUG discussions, but, again, keeping
> in mind that it is the CLUG list (not Linux Australia etc.).

...Jacinta, I have not done much by way of presentations around the place,
etc.  On the other hand, a quick check of some stats tells me that I have been
subscribed for around 1 year, 16 weeks, 1 day, 9 hours, 30 minutes, and 58
seconds, give or take propagation time.[1]

In that time there have been some 5,472 posts, from 331 posters, for an
average of 16.532 posts per poster.  The top posters by count are:

 292 Chris Smart
 268 Andrew Janke
 264 Daniel Pittman
 234 Alex Satrapa
 210 Paul Wayper
 167 Robert Edwards
 164 steve jenkin
 155 Lana Brindley
 146 Mike Carden

Meanwhile, in terms of subjects absent any other consideration, in that time:

Total number of subjects: 1071
Average posts/subject: 5.109244

 137 [clug] OT: Protesting the proposed clean feed?
  67 [clug] Google compared to latest Microsoft evilness
  57 [clug] Open Source Software's Dirty Little Secret
  53 [clug] Why isn't Java popular on the Linux Desktop?
  45 [clug] Command of the Hour
  43 [clug] Internet banking and browser compatibility
  41 [clug] Looking for a netbook
  40 [clug] Ubuntu encrypted file systems
  39 [clug] The 1st Internet Tax is here.

So, lots of discussion, and apparently I am either very verbose, or a
reasonably significant contributor to the discussions over that time.

Make of those stats what you will; about all they say to me is that I am
active, but not exceptionally so in the top ten posters, that the majority of
discussion on the list is brief, and that "non-technical" topics tend to
generate long discussions more than technical topics do.


> I could go into all the trends of subscriptions etc. but it would be a bit
> of effort. My take is that if it was a longer term trend, we wouldn't have
> 650 at the moment.

*nod*  On the other hand, we just had an annoyingly divisive discussion on the
list, which never helps.  This could be a brief reaction to that, or it could
be that it would have happened anyhow, or...


> What I would be more interested in is how many of them are from Canberra and
> the surrounding region, but that is hard/impossible to determine from their
> e-mail address alone...

*nod*  For what it is worth, like David Schoen, my reason for being here is
that it is a good list, with interesting discussion, and without some of the
social issues that make other lists less interesting to me.

> Anyways, we need to see what others come up with. CLUG has no leadership as
> such, so this is just my own thought on the issue.

*nod*  Thanks for thinking about this; I think about some of the same sort of
issues, although my conclusions are different, and I am happy to see I am not
alone in that. :)

Regards,
        Daniel

Footnotes: 
[1]  I included the excessive detail because it amuses me to do so, not
     because it actually has much significance.

-- 
✣ Daniel Pittman            ✉ daniel at rimspace.net            ☎ +61 401 155 707
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