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Subject:Re: ADMIN: upcoming changes From:Arran Stewart <Arran -dot- Stewart -at- THOMSON -dot- COM -dot- AU> Date:Thu, 5 Aug 1999 12:16:28 +1000
1/50th of a dollar from a lurker on the list.
Do you want new people to join this list and contribute their knowledge and
experience to it? I would think that in the long term, the list can only be
valuable if new people continue to join, and if the list encourages the
exchange of relevant information, views and experience from as wide a range
of people in the technical writing field as possible.
So you might want to ensure that, whatever solution you adopt, it does not
discourage new members from joining. $5 is not a great deal of money. But if
I knew nothing about the list, and it cost $5 to even see what it was like
(plus, for other non-US subscribers like me, the hassle of getting that $5
in US currency to a US address), and given that the vast majority of other
mailing lists are free, I think I probably wouldn't bother. Lots of people
on the list have said how useful it is - but how is an outsider going to
know or care about that?
I'd suggest that, at the very least, a free 'trial period' - of at least
several weeks - be offered to prospective subscribers, allowing them to
sample the list for a while (but probably without posting rights). As an
aside, I would have thought that much of the value of the list comes, not
from being able to receive messages (which may or may not be useful to you),
but to post them (allowing you to request opinions, information etc. from
the listmembers which are directly relevant to your needs).
Plus, is it possible to get a breakdown of the costs of running the list,
and/or moving it to a new server? Could any of these costs be covered by
donations of hardware, software or access to Internet connections? I find it
hard to believe, with the number of people on the list, and the number of
businesses, societies other organizations they are involved with, that at
least some of these things couldn't be got for free.
