Re: ADMIN: An Open Letter to the TECHWR-L Community
Lisa Wright wrote:
It's very funny that so many posters have gone straight to
the issue of tools,even though it's not broken, it just needs
new stewardship.
Lisa's exactly right.
> The reason "tools" matter here is that they change the equation.
An ad-supported website + email list has more or less become
a commodity. This changeover *could* just be about selecting
some new stewards to moderate a Yahoo group (or has Google
got their competing offering ready yet?). OK, and some
pesky details like article publication rights, etc ;)
Tools don't matter--that's pretty much the point that you make
by your use of the term "commodity". Stewardship and those
pesky details of publications rights and the like do.
By choosing to require this to be a "business proposition",
the Rays may have *made* it something complicated, to
involve lots of discussion, ultimately, about costs, "tools",
etc.
Yes, it's a business proposition. Absolutely. And a business
proposition complicated by the fact that it matters, to us, who
buys it, because the community matters to us.
TECHWR-L weathered the transition from a free service (costs hidden by the hosting organization) to a profitable .com, with help during the
transition from the community. Several years ago, we did a "who
wants to donate to keep TECHWR-L going" drive to help make that
transition, and it went well. Since then, we have not done so, because
the balance sheet of TECHWR-L the business has been consistently
positive. Basically, TECHWR-L revenue - TECHWR-L expenses =
a positive number. Is it a huge positive number? That depends on
the context and standards, and on if one chooses to include time and
effort to keep it running as part of the expense column.
(We often like to describe TECHWR-L as a successful dot-com, even through the bust. Yes, it's a community, but as Al points out, there's
more than meets the eye.)
Given that, it's a business proposition from any rational perspective.
Treating it otherwise wouldn't make any sense.
I agree *precisely* with the argument that what matters is
that the list has had excellent stewardship, and that this
should continue under somebody new. Which is precisely
why I see no reason not to let somebody else (like Yahoo)
handle the "tools"/costs issue, and focus on selecting new
stewards on their merits rather than money or business
acumen.
Quite frankly, in our assessment, business acumen is one of the required
merits to keep TECHWR-L going and viable. Volunteer effort over time and
with the intensity sometimes required isn't a reasonable expectation. Deb and I calculated that we'd donated 7000 hours to the community over
6 years _before_ we transitioned to a business basis for keeping it going. That level of effort requires a tremdendous level of dedication,
not to mention lack of sense, that we've overcome (the lack of sense
part, that is).
Eric
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References:
Re: ADMIN: An Open Letter to the TECHWR-L Community: From: Greg Holmes
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