Dale Thorn allegedly said:
The following table shows cypherpunks subscription activity for the period 12 Oct 1996 thru 07 January 1996.
[...]
Interpretation:
Unless the reversal of gain/loss in the 5th data row is permanent, c-punks are losing 0.8 bodies per day, or 294 subscribers per year.
Actually, the constant high turnover suggests something else: Many people join the list and get back off again due to the high volume and their own personal time constraints.
As a relatively new subscriber I find the single factor most likely to get me to leave is the garbage on the list. And a significant portion of the traffic is discussion about that garbage.
Unless Sandy can cut *way* back on the number of posts to the list, i.e. excise a *lot* more postings than just the blatant Spam and "Timmy is a....." posts, it won't make any difference to those people who come and go.
No. The blatant spam and "Timmy isa" posts are more annoying than the large volume, at least in my case. [...]
As to the net loss in subscribers, the moderation of the list could have a substantial effect on the number of subscribers short-term, but whatever trend we have here will continue regardless, since the real value and character of the list is not determined by the posts which are removed (unless it were that some of the character and value is going to be removed), but by long-term factors which are to be expected when the principals get older, less involved, and less contentious (like Sandy, wanting to avoid conflict).
Moderation may actually cause the list to grow at a faster pace. While I don't agree with your analysis in the short run, in the long run volume on the list will be *the* problem -- just due to the growth of the net. And in the long run, undoubtedly further structure will evolve -- there is no meaningful way to deal with say 10000 messages per day without some way of structuring the flow. -- Kent Crispin "No reason to get excited", kent@songbird.com,kc@llnl.gov the thief he kindly spoke... PGP fingerprint: 5A 16 DA 04 31 33 40 1E 87 DA 29 02 97 A3 46 2F