FW: Laugh Of The Day - Fri, Feb 02 1996 (fwd)

[Robert Hettinga]

--- begin forwarded text

From: "Roger Koppl" <KOPPL at FDUSVR1.FDU.EDU>
Organization:  FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON UNIVERSITY
To: austrianecon at agoric.com
Date:   Wed, 14 Feb 1996 12:38:57 EDT
Subject:       FW: Laugh Of The Day - Fri, Feb 02 1996 (fwd)
Priority: normal
Sender: owner-austrianecon at agoric.com
Precedence: bulk
Reply-To: AustrianECON at agoric.com

I got this from a colleague.  Apparently the source is LaughWEB.

Sound familiar?

Roger
---------- Forwarded message ----------
*****************************************************************
        Be sure to visit LaughWEB
(http://www.misty.com/laughweb/)
*****************************************************************
*File Description: The Natural Life Cycle Of a Mailing List*

THE NATURAL LIFE CYCLE OF MAILING LISTS

Every list seems to go through the same cycle:

1.  Initial enthusiasm (people introduce themselves, and gush alot about
how wonderful it is to find kindred souls).

2.  Evangelism (people moan about how few folks are posting to the list,
and brainstorm recruitment strategies).

3.  Growth (more and more people join, more and more lengthy threads
develop, occasional off-topic threads pop up).

4.  Community (lots of threads, some more relevant than others; lots of
information and advice is exchanged; experts help other experts as well as
less experienced colleagues; friendships develop; people tease each other;
newcomers are welcomed with generosity and patience; everyone -- newbie
and expert alike -- feels comfortable asking questions, suggesting
answers, and sharing opinions).

5.  Discomfort with diversity (the number of messages increases
dramatically; not every thread is fascinating to every reader; people
start complaining about the signal-to-noise ratio; person 1 threatens to
quit if *other* people don't limit discussion to person 1's pet topic;
person 2 agrees with person 1; person 3 tells 1 & 2 to lighten up; more
bandwidth is wasted complaining about off-topic threads than is used for
the threads themselves; everyone gets annoyed).

6a. Smug complacency and stagnation (the purists flame everyone who asks
an 'old' question or responds with humor to a serious post; newbies are
rebuffed; traffic drops to a doze-producing level of a few minor issues;
all interesting discussions happen by private email and are limited to a
few participants; the purists spend lots of time self-righteously
congratulating each other on keeping off-topic threads off the list).

OR

6b. Maturity (a few people quit in a huff; the rest of the participants
stay near stage 4, with stage 5 popping up briefly every few weeks; many
people wear out their second or third 'delete' key, but the list lives
contentedly ever after).

******************************************************************************
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Roger Koppl
Associate Professor
Economics and Finance
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Madison, NJ 07940
USA

Internet: Koppl at fdusvr1.fdu.edu
Phone:  (201) 443-8846
Fax: (201) 443-8804
----------------------------------------------------------------------

--- end forwarded text


-----------------
Robert Hettinga (rah at shipwright.com)
e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"Reality is not optional." --Thomas Sowell
The e$ Home Page: http://thumper.vmeng.com/pub/rah/